Beautiful Silence
by Hiroakki
Summary: A demon's child, the fruit of a forbidden love, that is who Riko is. That conflict between the two natures in her body caused her to be unable to normally function. She always thought it didn't matter if the whole world was against her, as long as her dear mother was with her, until...
1. And So Her Life Crumbled

**Another GaaraxOC story! It's my favourite ones to write!**

 **I hope this gets a good response!**

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Chapter 1: And So Her Life Crumbled

"Riko! Don't stay out too long, honey!"

"Ah! Ah!"

"Shizuna, your daughter still can't speak? I wonder what is wrong with that poor girl."

Shizuna, Riko's mother lowered her head at her neighbour's comment. Riko was already five years old and she still couldn't pronounce a single word. All she did to communicate was moving her arms around and making incoherent sounds. Despite that though, she was a brilliant little girl. Brilliant and kind. She would always do her best to take care of her mother, who often got sick. Riko's eyes were an unusual bloody red and her hair was of the darkest black, giving the impression of swallowing every shade of colour around.

Since Riko couldn't communicate like normal kids her age, she didn't have any friends. Some of the adults even thought that she was possessed by some sort of demon that prevented her from being able to speak. As a result, most people avoided her and always kept their distances around her and her mother, omit some minor exceptions. Shizuna was fully aware of that and tried her best to shield her daughter from all the negativity that people directed towards her.

"She might not be able to speak, but she's the most wonderful daughter any mother could ask for."

Shizuna looked at her neighbour and smiled a very gentle smile while thinking of her dear Riko.

Both of them lived together in a small house in Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass. Every morning, Riko would leave at the same time and come back, without fail, right before the sunset, right when her mother would return from working at the local restaurant. What her mother didn't know, however, was where Riko went during that time. She trusted that her daughter was fully capable of taking care of herself, since she had proven being able to do so several times before.

Riko followed her daily path again that day, making sure not to attract too much attention. She went through alleys, climbed some short buildings, trying to reach her destination with agile and controlled steps. She had always been very quick on her feet. Doing that little parkour of hers every day only increased her natural swiftness. When she reached her destination, she stood there, proud of getting there yet again without any complications along the way. She looked ahead and there stood Kusagakure's Ninja School, the place she went to almost every day. She had always wanted to enrol in that school, but so many things prevented her from applying. First, she didn't want to become a ninja and go on missions that'd force her to leave her mother alone for long periods of time. The other reason why she didn't was because the people of the village treated her like an outsider. She knew better than anyone that the ninja school would use her inability to speak as an excuse to not accept her as a student. She didn't mind, though. As long as her mother loved her, she didn't care what other people thought.

She went around the school, making sure she is unseen by the ninja who worked there. She always thought that it was rather curious how such highly trained ninja couldn't even sense her presence. All she did was hope really hard that they wouldn't spot her. And that was exactly what always happened. She climbed the tree that was located, conveniently, right in front of one of the classrooms' windows. She made sure to position herself in a way that concealed her enough for her to be able to be unseen while spying on the class. That day they were being taught the transformation jutsu. Riko would always followed along the instructions, but, somehow, she always overdid it. The last jutsu she learned from that class was the clone jutsu. Most of the students were able to do one clone or two at the very most. When she tried it back home, she was able to make about ten clones. At first, she felt proud of herself for being so good at it, until her clones started going out of control. They had started running around screaming and making strange noises. She remembered thinking that it was a relief that they were clones with no physical bodies. It was also a good thing that her mother wasn't home at that time. This time, it was the transformation jutsu. She thought to herself that nothing could go bad with that one. She watched how everyone in the class was doing it and decided to call it a day early so that she could go try it out at home before her mom returned.

When she reached their little humble wooden house, she got inside and closed the door and covered her windows. She didn't want anyone to know what she'd been up to for so long. It would make things more complicated than they should be. She made the appropriate signs for the jutsu and pictured transforming into her mother. Nothing happened. She was confused at the fact that it wasn't working. She wasn't even able to transform into anything at all. She went up to the mirror, hoping that maybe something might've changed. All she saw was her own face staring right back at her with the same puzzled look she had. She tried to do it again, but it was no use. She kept trying for a few hours until she heard her mother coming in. Nothing worked. She just couldn't transform.

"How are you, Riko? Did you have a nice day today?"

Her mother smiled at her with a tired expression. Riko nodded and went to the kitchen to get her mother a cup of warm tea. She always did that when her mother came back from work. Shizuna always told her that it restored her energy. Riko knew she wasn't completely honest about that, but, as long as her mother was happy, she would do anything she can for her, even if it's just a mere cup of tea. Riko was still very worried, however, since her mother was looking more and more exhausted every day. The black circles under her eyes were also getting deeper.

Shizuna always tried to hide the various problems that she was going through. Many things worried her. She didn't even know how long both her and her daughter could go on like this. The truth was that her job wasn't providing her with enough money even just for the basic living expenses. Her boss was underpaying her, due to the constant prejudice against her daughter. Some people would even call her an evil witch that got punished by giving birth to a half-wit child. The only person who didn't treat her so harshly was her neighbour. But even she still kept her distances. At work, she was mistreated by the owner. He would not only be violent with her, but even sexually harass her. If she was only taking care of herself, she would've quit that job ages ago. However, there was Riko. She had to do everything in her power to take care of her beloved daughter. She had been actively looking for another job, but no one would even let her in. Was this all because of the sin she committed with that man back then? Is it the forbidden love that she shared with a demon caused all this misfortune to fall upon them? Wasn't it enough punishment that her love died after committing to always love her? Of course, their daughter wasn't fully human. That conflict between the two natures in her body caused her to be unable to normally function. In a sense, it was because of a demon that Riko couldn't speak, but it wasn't because she was possessed. It was because she was half-demon herself. By demon, Shizuna didn't mean an evil entity, just a supernatural one. The father of her child was by far the kindest man she had ever encountered. She met him in the forest, when he saved her from wild animals. She had asked him about the reason why he was out of his realm. At that time, he answered that it was because he wanted to go around exploring the human world. They would then meet up regularly in the forest, until they started developing romantic feelings for each other. Both their families shunned them for doing such a taboo thing. They both then wandered around together until Shizuna fell pregnant. That was when the man she loved started to slowly die. He then burned away into ashes after his last breath was drawn. Shizuna made it to the closest village, Kusagakure, and gave birth to Riko there, alone, in an abandoned house. The amazing thing was, as soon as Riko was born, Shizuna's birth wounds closed up instantly and she felt herself gaining back all the energy she lost. With her strength back, she was somehow able to take care of her daughter while providing both herself and Riko with food. Even now, Riko was still able to give her back some of the energy she lost. The tea that she always prepared her with the intention of giving her strength had actual effects to keep her going. It seemed that, whatever Riko truly wished for, it would come true to some extent. However, she didn't know how long that would last. Shizuna was feeling herself fading away. She knew she didn't have much time left. She also knew that, if she was gone, the village would immediately turn against Riko. She didn't know what to do. She just wanted to hang in there as much as she could. Riko needed her. She never told Riko about her father. She was waiting for her to get older. She wrote down everything in a sort of diary, in case she wouldn't live to tell her.

"Ah. Uh."

"What is it, sweetheart? You're hungry?"

Riko nodded.

"Alright, I'll go prepare something for my little angel."

It was ironic how she called Riko an angel, since she was actually a half-demon, the total opposite of an angel. However, the purity of Riko's soul was that of the brightest angel.

As soon as Shizuna got up, she felt her legs give in. Her body felt numb and her sight became hazy. Before she could react, she saw the ground getting close; she was falling.

"Aaaah!"

Riko screamed as she saw her mother falling down. She didn't want her to fall. She wanted to help her. She wanted to stop her from falling. That was when her mother was stopped in midair. She was floating, right before her face touched the ground. Riko went up to her and held her.

"You did it again, didn't you, my little baby? Just like that time when you dropped your cup of milk, but prevented it from touching the ground."

Riko looked at her mother with a worried expression. Tears were starting to form at the edges of her eyes. Shizuna started stroking her daughter's hair to soothe her. She felt like this was it. It was her time to go. She couldn't stop worrying about how her Riko would be able to live on without her there.

"Riko, you're a strong girl. You're smart and beautiful, just like your father. I want you to listen to mommy carefully. I don't have much time left… I'm sorry, baby, that I won't be able to stay with you, but I know you will be able to move on. You're my strong little girl."

As Riko listened, tears were rolling down her cheeks. Her nose was also starting to run and she started sniffling unconsciously. She had a feeling of what was about to happen. She saw her mother's soul starting to escape from its body. It was the first time she ever saw something like that, but she knew what it meant. Deep down, she knew.

"I wanted to spend more time with you. I wanted to see you grow up to be a beautiful young lady. I wanted to tell you about everything, but…"

Shizuna had also started crying. She was choking up on her words. She wanted to stay strong for Riko, but she just couldn't.

"After I leave, I want you to go look for a notebook in my room. Take it, take all you can from this house and leave this village. You have to run away from here. Run away as far as you can. They will hurt you if you don't. I know it will be hard on you, baby… Just remember that I will always be with you… I… will always… love you…"

As she said that, Shizuna's consciousness started to fade away. Riko was bawling by that time. She was looking up at her mother's soul that was starting to float away. Her mother was also looking at her, giving her a gentle smile.

After a few hours, Riko was still hugging her mother's dead body. She had stopped crying, but she was still hiccuping a bit. She then remembered what her mother told her. She laid her mother's corpse on the floor and got a blanket with which she covered the body. She then went to her mother's room and started looking for that notebook her mother was talking about. As soon as she found it, she opened it and started reading its contents. Even though she couldn't speak, her mother had taught her reading and writing. She would sometimes communicate through writing to express more complicated things.

As she flipped through the pages, she started learning more about who she really was and who her father was. It all took time to sink in, but she was able to accept all of this quite well. She didn't understand everything, but she was able to get the general idea. She was the daughter of a demon and a human. She was never going to be treated like a normal human being, since she never was one. There was only one thing left to do. She had to run. She had to run away from this village where everyone feared her. She didn't want to leave her mother's body to those people, however. The best thing to do would be to burn the whole house, she thought. She got out, gathered as many flammable things as she could, and lit the house on fire, with tears in her eyes.

"Uuhuuh… Uuuuuh…"

Pained crying noises were escaping her. This felt like burning away a part of her life. A very dear and important part of her life. Before the villagers arrived, she left the place and headed for the gates. She passed through the gate undetected by the guards, just like how she was able to do that at the ninja school. That time felt like it was so far away now… She knew that it would never come back.

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 **If there's anyone out there who liked it, I'll keep this story going! :D**


	2. She Found and Was Found

**Since it's still the beginning of the story, I thought I should post often to get you guys to get into it!**

 **This is shorter than the last one, but it still helps give more information about where the story is heading.**

 **I hope it's enjoyable until now :D**

 **This is actually a re-uploaded chapter, because I wanted to clarify some things and correct some errors.**

 **I completely forgot that Kurenai became a Jounin shortly before the start of the series, therefore I changed her into a Chunin here. Riko would've been way too young compared to the others if I didn't do that. Thank you so much Quiet Harmony-chan for pointing it out XD**

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Chapter 2: She Found and Was Found

Riko had been wondering around the forest for weeks. She was hungry and exhausted. She had been crying every night since her mother died. The only things she had eaten during this whole week were the fruits of fruit trees that she randomly stumbled upon. They provided her with both food and water. The juices of the fruits were enough to quench her thirst for a while. Now, however, her body was demanding more than just mere fruits. Every inch of her was aching.

The forest was starting to get even more dense as she went on. Feeling lost and sad, she started to cry again. She didn't know how there were still tears left in her eyes after all these weeks she'd been crying. She didn't care, though. All she felt was sorrow. It felt like her life wasn't even worth living anymore. She didn't know what to do. The only thing that kept her going was her mother's words. It was her mother wanted her to run away and to do her best to keep on living that she was still trying her best to honour her mother's last wish. She felt, however, that she was at her wit's end. She was about to collapse any second now.

Riko sat down, her back resting on a tree, and started loudly crying. A group of ninja, not too far away, heard her cries.

"Did you guys hear that?"

A woman with reddish eyes and black hair stopped in her tracks at the sound of Riko's crying.

"Kurenai, this could be an ambush. Let's stick to the mission and not get sidetracked."

Even though Kurenai was a skilled Chunin, her motherly instincts kicked in stronger than ever. She couldn't just leave a crying child in the middle of the forest like crying sounded so pained and desperate that it was pulling at her heart strings.

"Sorry, you'll have to finish this mission without me. I can't just ignore that."

At this, she left the two other Chunin and headed for where the sobbing is coming from before her squad could react. The close she got to the crying sound, the more it squeezed her heart. Whoever was crying was in so much emotional agony that it felt like they were about to give up on life. She was finally able to locate who the owner of this agony filled voice was. It was a little girl, sitting on the floor, looking like she'd been crying for hours. Kurenai carefully landed on the ground, as to not startle the poor girl.

When Riko noticed that there was someone, she stopped sobbing. Tears kept rolling down her cheeks, but her whole attention was focused on that newcomer. She didn't know whether to feel afraid or relieved. Maybe this woman could help her, but she could also harm her. She was wearing a headband, meaning that she was a ninja. Riko didn't recognize the symbol on it, so she was sure that she wasn't from Kusagakure. She also had red eyes like her, except that she had black irises, while Riko's were just as blood red as her eyes, making it seem like she didn't have irises. They also weren't as bloody looking. Only the outer circumference was vibrant red. The closer to the iris it got, the more neutral the red was. Still, the look in that woman's eyes was kind. Riko felt a little at ease.

Kurenai looked at the little girl with a lot of concern showing in her eyes. This little girl looked exhausted. She looked like she hadn't eaten properly in days. Kurenai started approaching her slowly.

"Are you alright, little one?"

Riko shook her head slowly. She couldn't lie and say she's okay. She could never lie at all since the day she was born. She was never able to hide how she truly felt from anyone. This time was no exception. The woman was now right in front of her, crouching at her eye level.

"What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Ah, ah."

Riko wrote her name on the dirt on the floor next to her.

"Ri… ko… So your name is Riko?"

Kurenai read the name as Riko wrote it. Riko nodded.

"You can't talk, Riko?"

Riko nodded, in affirmation to what Kurenai said. To Kurenai, that little girl looked old enough to be at least able to say simple sentences.

"How old are you?"

Riko showed five fingers.

"Five? Is there a reason why you can't talk?"

Riko looked down. She was debating whether she should show that woman her mother's diary. She then decided to first learn more about the woman before showing her that.

"Ah."

She pointed at Kurenai.

"Ah. Ah."

It took Kurenai a bit of time to understand what Riko wanted.

"You want to know my name?"

Riko nodded fervently, happy that she finally understood what she was trying to tell her.

"I'm Kurenai. I'm a kunoichi of Konohagakure. I heard you crying so I couldn't just leave you there. If you want, you can come with me to Konoha."

Riko just stared at Kurenai. She was so happy that someone who seemed so nice had found her that she started crying again, but, this time, it was out of joy.

"Oh, don't cry…"

Kurenai said gently as she wiped Riko's tears with her hand.

"Ah…"

Riko then remembered that she wanted to show Kurenai her mother's notebook. She didn't want Kurenai to take her without knowing what she was getting herself into. Riko took out the notebook and handed it to the kunoichi.

"What's this?"

Kurenai took the notebook from Riko's outstretched arm and opened it. After scanning through the pages, reading the important parts, she closed the notebook and gave it back to Riko.

"I see…"

She got up and looked at Riko.

"Come on, Riko. It doesn't matter who your parents were. You're still a very nice girl. Let's both head to Konoha. I'm sure the Hokage will be happy to welcome you."

She smiled at Riko to reassure her that everything was fine and that she wouldn't just abandon her just because of who she was. Kurenai thought to herself: 'That poor girl… She must've gone through hell to end up here. Her father was already dead before she was born. Her mother probably died too. Why else would she be here all by herself? I'm sure she had her fair share of rejection from ignorant people. The fact that she's so trusting towards me just shows that she's still just a pure little child. I'll honour her trust in me. I'll do everything so that she can have the life she deserves.'

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 **I really never thought this story would get so much love so quickly! I'm glad it's interesting. I wasn't sure if people would appreciate me putting in entities in Naruto's world XD**

 **Thank you so much and please review :D**


	3. A New Life, A New Hope

**I never thought that this story would get any attention! I'm so amazed that so many people are interested in this! Thank you everyone! I know I took forever to write this. I'll try my best to update!**

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Chapter 3: A New Life, A New Hope

While walking towards Konoha, Riko reached out to Kurenai's hand and held it. At the sudden display of affection, Kurenai got a little surprised. She looked into Riko's eyes and saw the blind innocent trust that was reflected in the little girl's eyes. she gave a light squeeze to the tiny hand that was placed in her own and they both started walking towards Konohagakure. Kurenai would sometimes carry Riko across the trees surrounding them. After half a day of travelling, filled mainly by Kurenai's small talk and Riko's giggling, the village was finally in their field of vision.

"Oh!"

Riko exclaimed and pointed towards the village gates. It was the first time she saw such huge gates. The ones at Kusagakure were a lot smaller. Riko's eyes naturally followed the gates up as they got closer.

"You're going to fall backwards if you keep leaning back like that."

Kurenai addressed Riko in an amused tone. That seemed to snap the child out of her weird posture and she straightened herself up. She then turned her head towards Kurenai and pointed at the gates while tugging on her benefactor's hand.

"What is it? You're impressed by the gates?"

Riko nodded energetically. Kurenai smiled at Riko's childlike excitement.

"How about I take you up there? I'm sure you'll love the view."

Riko's eyes sparkled and she moved her head up and down fervently. Kurenai then carried her in her arms and jumped up to the gates. When she reached the top, she put Riko down and held her hand firmly.

"Be careful not fall."

From the top of the gates, the whole village was visible. Riko was in awe at how big Konohagakure was.

"Waaah…"

Hundreds of houses and buildings stood in front of her. Riko's eyes followed them all the way to a bigger red building that stood tall at the far end. Behind it was a huge mountain with four figures carved into it.

"These are the Konoha's Hokage. They each were the leaders of the village at some point in time."

Kurenai explained to Riko when she saw her eyes fixated on the Hokage figures. Riko nodded in understanding. She compared a Hokage to the Kusakage of Kusagakure. She had never really met him since he didn't really go out.

"See this big red building over there?"

Riko nodded and looked at Kurenai before following where the kunoichi's finger was pointing at.

"That's the Hokage's mansion. You and I are going to head there now."

Riko slowly nodded. She wondered why they had to go there, but contented herself with just following Kurenai.

While they were on their way to the Hokage's mansion, Kurenai told Riko about the different places they passed by. First was the tool shop, then Ichiraku Ramen… Riko made different noises for each one of them. This helped her memorize what each place was for and where it was.

When they reached the Hokage's mansion, Kurenai felt RIko's pace slow down until it came to a full stop.

"What's the matter, Riko?"

Riko at that point really wanted to know why they had to go to the Hokage's mansion. She just wanted to go to Kurenai's house and live with her forever. She was so nice and pretty that she reminded her a bit of her mom. Her mom was prettier though in her opinion. Thinking of her mother, Riko sniffled and tears started rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably.

Flustered by the sudden change of behaviour, Kurenai kneeled in front of Riko to reach her eye level. She put her hands on the little frail girl's shoulders and looked at her with honest concern in her eyes.

"What is it sweetheart? Are you hurt somewhere? Are you sad about something?"

"Uuuuuuuuuuuh…"

Since RIko couldn't speak and she didn't have the patience of trying to explain things to Kurenai, she just kept crying while trying to wipe off her tears.

Kurenai then instinctively hugged RIko and patted her on the head.

"You miss your mom?"

Kurenai felt Riko move her head in a nodding motion.

"It'll be alright, Riko. I'll do my best for you."

Riko's sobbing started calming down and she soon became quiet, only a few tears rolling down her cheeks. Kurenai wiped those tears off and smiled gently at Riko. Riko sniffled and smiled back.

"Ready to go to meet the Hokage?"

Riko shook her head. She wasn't ready. Not until she knew why they had to meet him.

"You don't want to meet him?"

Riko shrugged. She wanted Kurenai to explain to her the reason behind this visit.

"You don't know…? Why did you shrug?"

Riko sighed. Kurenai didn't know her very well. It would take more effort for her to get Kurenai to understand. She pointed at both Kurenai and herself.

"Me… and you…"

Riko nodded: Kurenai had gotten that part right. RIko then point at the door in front of them.

"The Hokage's mansion… You and me going to the Hokage's mansion…"

Riko smiled and nodded harder. She was getting through to Kurenai. She then shrugged to convey the rest of her message.

"Don't know…? You don't know why we're going to the Hokage's mansion?"

Riko's smile widened at the successful attempt to communicate with Kurenai. Kurenai giggled at RIko's childlike excitement.

"Well, the Hokage is the one who is the head of this village. Since you're not part of this village yet, I have to introduce you to him. Then, you will officially be part of Konohagakure. Don't worry, the Hokage is a very nice person."

Kurenai took Riko's hand again and they headed inside the mansion. After they climbed up the stairs to the Hokage's office, Kurenai knocked on the door. Riko gulped, still feeling quite nervous even after Kurenai's attempts to reassure her.

"Come in."

An old and commanding voice was heard from inside. Kurenai opened the door and went inside the Hokage's office, closely followed by Riko.

"Kurenai? You're back from your mission already? And… who's this we have here?"

Even though the Hokage's voice was full of authority, Riko could sense that it was full of gentleness. Nonetheless, she kept trying to hide behind Kurenai.

"Hokage-sama, I need to apologize about my mission. I deserted my team when I heard a young child crying. I could not just abandon her in the woods all by herself, crying so helplessly."

The Hokage looked at Kurenai for a bit.

"Abandoning a mission like that is a serious transgression. You do know that, don't you, Kurenai?"

Kurenai looked down, avoiding the Hokage's piercing gaze. Riko didn't really understand much of what was going on, but she knew that Kurenai was feeling uncomfortable for some reason. She didn't know how to react to that, though, so she stayed right behind her.

"I do know that, Hokage-sama. However, as I said before, I could not abandon this poor child."

"I presume that this girl is the crying child, am I correct?"

"Yes, indeed, Hokage-sama."

"You did the right thing, Kurenai."

Kurenai, surprised by the Hokage's change of tone, looked up at him.

"I would've no doubt done the same thing. The lives of the innocent should always come first."

"Hokage-sama…"

"For now, you two must be exhausted. Kurenai, since you found her, I put you in charge of…"

"Riko, Hokage-sama. Her name is Riko."

The Hokage cleared his throat.

"Right. I put you in charge of Riko. After you settle down, I want you back here to tell me more about little Riko."

Kurenai smiled widely, but immediately tried to conceal it.

"Y-Yes, Hokage-sama. Thank you."

"Alright, off you go."

Kurenai took Riko's hand and headed out. When they got out of the mansion, Kurenai didn't conceal her bright smile. This made Riko smile as well.

"Ehehe!"

Riko giggled from the joy that Kurenai's happiness brought her.

"The Hokage is a wonderful person, Riko. He completely forgave me for abandoning my mission and he's putting me in charge of taking care of you!"

"Ah! Uh!"

Riko nodded fervently at Kurenai's statement. She was going to live with Kurenai She'll have a new beginning, a new life, a new hope. Both of them headed towards Kurenai's house while talking, in Kurenai's case, and making strange noises and gestures, in RIko's case.

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 **Thanks for reading this!**

 **Please review, I love reading your comments!**


	4. Her First Friend

**Finished it right before starting school again! I hope it's an enjoyable chapter :D**

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Chapter 4: Her First Friend

"I see…"

The Hokage said after putting down Shizuna's diary. Kurenai had brought it to him, with Riko's permission, to give him a better understanding of Riko's situation.

"Kurenai, it would be wise to keep this between us. People are afraid of what they don't know or can't comprehend. If they knew, they will treat her harshly."

Kurenai looked at Riko who was by her side.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I'll keep my lips sealed for her sake."

Even though Riko didn't show any reaction, she knew what they meant. She knew that people will be even more afraid of approaching her if they knew her whole story. Being half demon wasn't exactly something that people welcomed with open arms. Maybe here in this village people won't mind her disability to speak. In Kusagakure, her mom and her had come to settle in suddenly, which made everyone around them wary.

As the conversation between the Hokage and Kurenai went on, it started getting too complicated for RIko to understand. Out of boredom, she turned around and headed for the door.

She got out of the mansion and started strolling around the village. She stayed close to the mansion so that Kurenai wouldn't have too much trouble finding her.

While wondering around, she came across a park. She saw a lot of children there. Some of them looked her age.

"Give me the ball, dattebayo!"

"Don't give Naruto the ball!"

On boy in particular stood out from the rest of them. He had bright blonde hair and blue eyes. He was chasing after the ball but no one ever passed it to him. Riko got a very negative vibe from that. She knew that it wasn't because he was simply not good at handling a ball, but that it was due to something deeper and more malicious. They just simply didn't like him. They didn't want him anywhere near them. Riko knew those looks of disgust. The people of Kusagakure looked at both her and her mother that way. Was Konohagakure the same after all? What was the reason behind their hostility towards that boy that they called Naruto? She wanted to step in there and do something, but she was too shy. She didn't even know what she would be able to do without the ability to talk. She stood there silently, hiding a bit behind some bushes. The torment went on, but the boy never gave up. He kept going after the ball and demanding that they pass it to him. Riko wished she could do something. If only she could take the ball from them and give it to him. It wouldn't be too hard considering how agile she is. However, she figured that that wasn't really what the boy would've wanted. If only the ball itself curved towards him… Riko imagined how the ball would curve and land right in front of Naruto.

Just as she was imagining and hoping for it, the ball curved from one of the kids who threw it and landed right in front of Naruto, exactly like how Riko pictured it. All the kids paused for a bit, including Naruto, surprised at what had just unfolded. Naruto giggled at the realization of what had just happened.

"Hehe! I got it, dattebayo!"

"Oh no, the annoying kid got it."

A guy with spiky hair resembling a pineapple grumbled. Another guy who had a dog following him also expressed his annoyance.

"Shikamaru, let's go home!"

Just then a female voice sounded from near where Riko was. She looked at the woman and assumed it was his mother. One after the other, parents came to pick up their children. Everyone began to leave until only Naruto remained. Where were his parents? Were they running late?

With everyone else gone, Riko gathered up her courage and slowly came out of her hiding spot. Naruto looked up at her with a little surprise showing on his face.

"Who're you?"

Riko then got closer to the boy and wrote her name on the sand in front of them. Naruto looked at it with a clueless look. He didn't know how to read that. He stared and squinted at the characters in the sand for a bit, concentrating as hard as he can.

He gave up on trying to read it, because he was really getting annoyed.

"Why don't you just say it, dattebayo?!"

Riko looked at him in the eyes and tried to explain to him that she couldn't talk. She pointed at her throat and then crossed her arms in the form of an X to visually explain that she couldn't speak.

"You… Your throat hurts?"

Well, he was a bit close. Riko shook her head. She then tried to explain in another way. She pointed at herself, then did a talking motion with one hand, opening and closing her thumb and her other fingers together, and did the same thing as before with her arms crossed.

"Oh! You can't talk!"

Riko nodded while smiling. She got through to him. It was the first time she ever spoke to someone who looked close to her age. It was definitely harder to make him understand things than it was with her mom or with Kurenai.

"Why is that?"

Riko just stood there, puzzled as to how she would ever be able to explain that.

"Oh wait, you can't talk. Let's not get into big explanations then. I've never seen you around before. Are you new around here?"

Riko nodded.

"Well, if ever you need help, I'll gladly show you around! I don't like to brag, but I know this village inside out!"

Riko smiled at the thought that she might've just made a new friend. She nodded in response to Naruto's offer.

"Riko? Riko, where are you?"

That was Kurenai's voice calling.

"So your name is Riko-chan?"

Riko nodded once more. She then looked towards the direction where Kurenai was.

"Ah! There you are. Come on, now. We're going home."

Riko waved to signal that she was coming. She then turned to Naruto and smiled.

"You can find me here whenever you need me. I usually come hang out in the park."

Riko smiled and waved goodbye to Naruto, her first friend.

* * *

 **Thanks everyone for the amazingly positive reviews. I never expected that, to be honest. I starting writing this story on a whim so I never thought it was going to be too good, but, according to the reviews, I feel very happy that you guys like it. This just encourages me to write more and to try hard to make it as best as I can.**

 **Thank you!**

 **Please review :)**


	5. New Student

**Alright, for those of you who are wondering why she can't talk, it's because two natures are in conflict within her body: the demon and the human. This caused her to not function normally. Not talking is one of the effects. As for when Gaara is going to appear, well this does follow the main story, and I will be skipping through her early childhood after this chapter, so it should be soon :D**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 5: New Student

"You want to be a ninja?"

Riko nodded in relief. It took her so long to get Kurenai to understand what she wanted to tell her.

"Well, I see no reason why you shouldn't try."

Riko smiled in excitement and gratefulness towards Kurenai.

"Do you want me to enrol you in the Academy? You're around the right age to enter."

Riko started jumping around from excitement. She couldn't believe that she was finally going to be able to attend a ninja school. She won't have to hide anymore.

"Haha, I'm glad you're so happy, Riko. You go get ready for bed, since we'll be waking up early tomorrow to take care of your admission."

Riko nodded and ran off to the room that Kurenai furnished for her the other day.

* * *

A few days went by and it was finally Riko's first day. She was feeling extremely nervous about it.

"Alright, Riko, time to go."

She looked at Kurenai with teary eyes.

"Weren't you the one who wanted to go? What's with the sudden change?"

Riko still wanted to go, but she was feeling really insecure about it. She was scared that people might not like her or that she might not be able to keep up. She wanted Kurenai to come with her.

"I understand that it's going to be something completely new for you, but I'm sure you'll like it. I'll bring you there today only. Starting tomorrow, you'll be going on your own, alright?"

Riko made a whining sound.

"Should you just not go at all? I'll make them drop you out of the class if that's what you want."

Kurenai took an authoritative tone. It was the first time Riko heard her speak like that. It made her feel like she couldn't argue with her anymore, and that she should listen to her.

"Good girl. Now, let's go."

At the academy, a chunin welcomed them and took Riko with him. Riko looked back at Kurenai one last time, before she was taken to her classroom. Her heart was beating extremely fast. She was feeling really scared.

"Hey, don't worry about it, Riko-chan, I won't bite. By the way, my name is Iruka. You can call me… Oh, that's right. I'm sorry Riko-chan, Kurenai told me that you can't talk."

Riko looked down at her feet while following Iruka.

"Don't worry about it, being a ninja is about much more than that. I'm sure you'll be a wonderful kunoichi someday."

Riko looked at Iruka and felt that he was a very nice person, just like Kurenai. That relieved her a lot, knowing that he was going to be her sensei from now on. They soon came to a halt in front of a classroom door.

"Are you ready, Riko-chan?"

Riko looked at her sensei with worried eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll introduce you to everyone, and I'll tell you where to sit. After that, all you have to do is follow the lesson, okay?"

Riko slowly nodded. Iruka then opened the sliding door and stepped inside the classroom with Riko right behind him. As soon as Riko walked in, the class began murmuring.

"Hey! It's you!"

Riko looked at where the voice came from and found Naruto pointing at her from his seat. Her face instantly lit up at seeing a familiar face.

"You two know each other?"

Iruka addressed Riko. Riko nodded. He then looked back at Naruto.

"Alright, settle down, Naruto. Everyone, starting today you will have a new classmate. Her name is Riko, and it hasn't been very long since she's been living in Konohagakure. She can't speak, so I ask of you to be nice to her and to be patient in trying to understand her. Now, as for your seat…"

"Come sit here, Riko-chan!"

Naruto loudly shouted.

"Hey moron, there's no place next to you!"

A guy with a dog exclaimed. Riko remembered him from the park.

"Shut up, Kiba!"

"You shut up!"

Iruka sensei then cut them off before they could argue any further.

"Both of you, stop arguing! Now, for your seat, why don't you go sit next to Hinata over there. Can you put your hand up Hinata?"

A girl with white irises and short dark hair put her hand up shyly. Riko then went ahead and sat down next to her.

"Um… N-Nice to meet you…"

Hinata said that in a very soft voice. Riko smiled at her and nodded. This made Hinata blush and smile back.

* * *

"Alright, class! We will continue our lesson on the Five Great Nations."

"W-Well, I'll s-see you t-tomorrow, then."

Riko waved at Hinata who left the classroom along with the other students when class ended.

"Hey! Riko-chan!"

Naruto called out to Riko and ran towards her.

"Hehe, I didn't think I'd see you here, dattebayo!"

Riko giggled. She was really glad that Naruto was in her class.

"Let's go play at the park, dattebayo!"

Riko nodded and followed Naruto.

Since it was pretty late in the afternoon, no other kids were at the park. Riko spent some time with Naruto until the sun set.

"I guess we have to go home now…"

Naruto sounded somewhat disappointed, almost sad. Riko patted him on the shoulder. She put her hands together and rested her head on them, closing her eyes.

"Sleep…"

Then she opened her eyes and straightened up.

"Wake up…"

Naruto was trying to guess what she was trying to tell him. She then pointed and him and at herself.

"Me, you… So… When we go to sleep then wake up… Tomorrow, then… Me, you… We will see each other again, right?"

Riko clapped her hands and smiled.

"Hehe, I'm getting pretty good at this, dattebayo!"

After bidding each other farewell, they both went to their respective home, after promising to spend more time with each other the next day.

When Riko got home, Kurenai was not there. She found a note on the table from Kurenai. It said that she had to go to an important mission, and that she left some food for her in the fridge. Riko ate and went to her room, a little sad that Kurenai wasn't there tonight so that she could share with her how her first day went. Riko then took out a notebook that Kurenai gave her a few weeks ago. Kurenai told her that it would help Riko out if she wrote down about the events of her life and her thoughts down into that notebook. Since then, she wrote about every day she spent in Konoha, as well as her thoughts about what happened before that. That day, she wrote about her first day at the academy. She wrote about Iruka, Kiba, Hinata, Naruto…

After she was done, she closed her notebook, put it back in the drawer and lied down on her bed. Her breathing becoming calm and regular, she dozed off slowly, thinking of how fun the next day was going to be.

* * *

 **How was this chapter? Do you guys like the cute friendship forming between Riko and Naruto? Let's not forget Hinata either!**

 **Thinking about how she'll try to communicate with Gaara later gets me hyped to continue writing!**

 **Thanks everyone for your support!**

 **Please review :D**


	6. What She Really Wants

**Man this took me forever to write! I never thought I'd freeze while writing... My hands were just hovering over the keyboard, not knowing what to write next! It's the first time that I run out of ideas... But that's when I dig deeper and make the story take an unexpected turn! I hope you guys like this chapter XD**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 6: What She Really Wants

"Get back here you little brat!"

Riko's gaze turned almost immediately towards the shouting voice. She found two ninja running after a boy. He had bright blonde hair and was holding a bucket of paint. It was Naruto. Instead of looking distressed at the fact that he was being chased, he was actually laughing mischievously.

"How dare you paint over the great Hokage stone faces?!"

The young boy laughed mockingly.

"Shut up, dattebayo! None of you can actually do that, can you? But I can, because I'm great, dattebayo!"

A few shinobi ran past Riko and went into the Hokage's mansion. It's been already few years since Riko came to the village. She was now twelve. She attended the Academy every day, in hopes of becoming a ninja. However, her jutsu always had extremely unexpected effects. Kurenai and Iruka always tried to help her out. The problem was that she was certainly capable of performing them, but it didn't work each time. What's even stranger, was that, without even performing the jutsu, it would cast itself. One day, Kurenai went up to Riko's room and found a bunch of clones running around, while Riko was clearly sleeping. She had tried to release the jutsu, but she couldn't. She then decided to wake Riko up, which made the clones disappear immediately.

Riko went home, after witnessing Naruto's daily mischief. Kurenai was also back from her mission. It had been a while since Riko was able to spend time with her, since Kurenai became a Jounin recently.

"How was school, Riko?"

Riko shrugged. That day they had to perform the transformation jutsu, but she was the only one who couldn't.

"You couldn't perform a jutsu again?"

Riko slowly nodded.

"I know how much you want to be a ninja, Riko, but it seems like the abilities that you have are not even based on chakra."

Riko looked at Kurenai, confused by what she was saying. If what she was doing wasn't based on chakra, then was it even considered jutsu?

"I'm just as confused about this as you are, Riko. According to what Iruka observed, there is no chakra that is produced when u try to perform jutsu. Unintentionally casting jutsu is unheard of. Even then, I tried sensing any chakra flow, but there was none."

Riko looked even more confused. If she couldn't perform jutsu, then how was she going to become a ninja?

"Even when it comes to Taijutsu, your body is too frail to handle combat. You're very good when it comes to agility and speed, but in terms of strength and endurance, you're way below average…"

Riko looked at the ground. She knew very well that she was falling behind her whole class, even though she practiced ten times harder than everyone else.

"Look, let's see what happens at the finals. If you pass, then you'll be a genin, but, if you don't, I suggest not trying to take it again…"

Riko was shocked and discouraged. She didn't want to give up on being a ninja. She wanted to graduate and go on adventures. If she didn't become a ninja, then, she'd be left without any other dreams.

"I know it's hard, Riko. The other option for you, if you absolutely want to be a ninja, is to specialize in something. I don't know what, though, since you can't use jutsu…"

As Kurenai was thinking of a way to help Riko, the latter noticed that the kunoichi had a scratch on her hand. It wasn't deep and probably stopped bleeding a while ago, but it worried Riko to see any type of wound on anyone. Instinctively, Riko took Kurenai's hand in her own and looked at the wound.

"What is it… Oh, that? I wasn't being too careful and a weapon from the enemy grazed me…"

Riko's worry caused her to want Kurenai to be healed and… that was exactly what happened. Her strong emotions and feelings made her wish materialize and the wound completely closed and only left smooth skin behind, as if it never had been hurt before.

Kurenai looked at her hand in surprise.

"How did you…? Riko… You can heal people? I didn't even feel any chakra going in my wound… Could it be that…"

Kurenai was thinking intensely. Riko was confused at her reaction. Usually, when she did that to her mother, it wasn't such a big deal. Her mom would just thank her and give her a warm hug. Was this considered that impressive?

"I've got it!"

Kurenai made a fist and tapped it on her open palm, in an act of realization. She then looked directly into Riko's eyes.

"Riko, is it the first time that you do this?"

Riko shook her head. She then made big motions with her arms, implying that she did it a lot.

"So it isn't your first time… You've done it a lot before. Can you do it any time you want if you see someone who need your help?"

Riko vigorously nodded. She hated seeing people in pain. Kurenai then got up and got a piece of paper and a pen.

"I want you to write to me what you're feeling and what you're thinking when you have to perform, let's say, the transformation jutsu."

Riko then looked at Kurenai, confused by what she was getting at. She then took the pen and paper and started writing:

 _I usually try to empty my mind so that I can concentrate. Then, when it doesn't work, I feel very frustrated while doing it._

"I see… Now write how you feel when you want to heal someone."

Riko took the pen and thought a bit about what words to use. She then wrote again:

 _I hate seeing someone hurt, so I feel like I really want to help them._

Kurenai then took the paper. She looked at it and compared the two feelings: frustration and wanting to help someone.

"I think I've figured it out… When you think of really wanting to do something, it happens. However, it seems like it doesn't work on everything. It has to be something that you really want for a reason. That reason seems to be something that is engrained in your ideals. You deeply care about others. This is something that whole being is convinced about. But, when it comes to other jutsu, you might be seeing the point on surface, but, deep down, you don't really know why you're learning this."

Riko started slowly nodding, trying to process all this information.

"I think we've found what you're really good at… Let's take a trip to the Konoha Hospital."

As soon as Kurenai said that, she got up and headed out, with Riko running after her, still a bit confused as to what is happening.

* * *

 **Well then, now I know where this story is** **going! So it shouldn't take too long to write.**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **Review pretty please ;DD**


	7. A New Path

**Here's the new chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it :D**

* * *

Chapter 7: A New Path

"Oh, Kurenai, what brings you here?"  
One of the medical ninja was walking by when Kurenai and Riko came in the hospital. He stopped and greeted Kurenai, since, apparently, they used to be classmates.

"Jinchi, I need you to take us to one of the patients."

"What…? Why is that? Are you here to visit someone?"

Kurenai shook her head.

"Just bring us to someone and you'll see what I'm here for."

"Alright… I'll bring to someone with a more stable condition, though. We wouldn't want to risk anything."

Kurenai and Riko followed Jinchi to one of the patients' rooms. Riko still didn't really know what Kurenai was planning, but she was too confused to protest.

When they arrive in the room, there are a few people lying on beds there. Seeing this, Riko's heart clenched. She felt really sad seeing them in such a condition. Kurenai turned to her and looked her in the eye.

"Riko… Do you feel like you want to help them?"  
Riko nodded. Kurenai then gave her a warm smile.

"Then go for it. I know you can do it."

Kurenai let go of Riko's hand, and, instantly, Riko ran up to one of the patients. Something compelled her to do so. The patient was unconscious. He had several patched up wounds, as well as a big bandage over his right eye. Riko then reached for his hand and held it in her own. She closed her eyes, wishing with all her heart that he would heal.

Surely enough, the man's wounds closed up under the bandages, and he started regaining consciousness.

"Where… am I?"

Jinchi couldn't believe his eyes.

"This… He was unconscious for the past two weeks! How did she…?"

Kurenai then smiled in admiration.

"You haven't seen everything… Remove his bandages."

Riko stepped back to where Kurenai is. Jinchi then carefully started removing some of the bandages on the patient's body.

"I can't believe it…! There are no wounds! Let's see your eye, sir…"

He then took off the bandage, and the patient's eye was perfectly fine.

"She didn't even use any jutsu… How is that possible? I mean, our medical ninja can do that, but we're just out of helping hands… But this is high level for a child like her!"

The patient that was healed got up. He then walked towards Riko.

"So, you're the one who did this, little girl?"

Riko nodded.

"I can't thank you enough. You are a gifted one. Thank you for your kindness."

He then left the room. It was the first time that anyone had thanked Riko for being different. Nobody ever told her that she was gifted. Everyone always said that she was possessed. She inwardly thanked Kurenai for bringing her here.

Riko then pulled at Kurenai's sleeve and pointed at the other patients in the room.

"You want to take care of everyone else in this room? You sure it's okay?"

Riko nodded and headed for another patient's side without waiting for Kurenai to give her approval.

"I guess this room is going to free up for you, Jinchi."

"Kurenai… I know this might be too much to ask, but can she stay here for a while? We have a lot of patients and not enough staff so…"

"We'll see what happens, Jinchi. If she isn't tired, then I'll let her stay for a bit. But she only stays here when I'm with her. I know how kind and selfless she can be… I'm sure that, even if she gets tired, she won't stop until everyone is healed. And I doubt any of you are going to stop her."

Jinchi looks down, knowing that Kurenai was right about that last part.

After a bit of time, Riko came back to Kurenai, her face beaming with joy. She was able to take care of everyone in the room, and she wanted to go help more people.

"You're still alright, sweetheart?"

Riko nodded.

"How about I bring you to one of our critical clients? It'll be a bit risky, but I'm sure you can do something."

They both follow Jinchi to one of the operation rooms where someone's being operated on. She lost a leg and was poisoned severely. Her heart rate was dropping at an alarming rate. Riko, instead of turning her head from such a sight, walked forward.

Jinchi explained to those operating to let her have a moment with the patient. Riko then held the woman's hand and wished for her to get better. The poison was immediately neutralized and the patient's wounds all closed. The only thing was that she still didn't get her leg back. Kurenai then put a hand on Riko's shoulder.

"It's alright now, dear. Your powers don't seem like they can create something from scratch. You did much more than we expected, though."

All the medical ninja around were whispering about how amazing and fascinating what Riko just did was. Riko was thinking about how, when she was with her mother, she had the same feelings, but even stronger. She really wanted her mother to get better. However, she still died. In a sense, she healed her many times. If Riko hadn't been there, her mother would've died much earlier. There were just some things that could not be healed, just like how Riko couldn't create new limbs or body parts from thin air.

"Kurenai, is it possible alright if Riko trains as a medical ninja? I believe that she doesn't even need to graduate from the Academy. I'm sure the Hokage can make her a genin right away after we tell him about what she just did."

Kurenai brought her hand to her chin, thinking about what Jinchi just said. This would definitely benefit Riko a lot, since she can't perform any jutsu.

"Well, this is not really my call. I think we should as Riko about what she wants."

They all then looked at Riko who was already thinking about. She really wanted to help everyone. If being a medical nin would enable her to do so, then she would do it for sure.

She nodded with determination.

"We can't thank you enough for your decision, Riko. We welcome you with open arms."

"Well, Jinchi, I'll go notify the Hokage about this. We still need to register Riko as an official medical ninja."

With that, Kurenai and Riko head out of the hospital.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading and leave a review to tell me what you think!**


	8. Talented and Valued

**Alright! I think when you read this, you'll kind of understand where Gaara comes in. I hope you enjoy it :D**

* * *

Chapter 8: Talented and Valued

It's now been a few months since Riko started training at the hospital. Kurenai had taken the Jounin exam and was now a full fledged Jounin. She completely stopped attending the Academy. A lot of her classmates had graduated and gone on missions. Due to her great agility and impressive healing powers, the Hokage would sometimes assign her to accompany a ninja squad on a mission where they were susceptible to severe injuries. She had become more accustomed with her powers and was now able to heal minor injuries from a distance, without having to touch her target. This was completely astonishing for everyone who became aware of her ability. It was never seen before. Even the strongest of medical ninja could not heal any wounds from a distance, since they needed to channel their chakra with their target's. This made her one of the most valuable healers in the village. As a result, she was asked to join a lot of missions. Of course, the Hokage made sure to not overload her with work, since she still needed to rest from time to time

One day, she was arriving at the hospital, and saw Sasuke and Kakashi there. Naruto's team had been on a mission recently, and it seemed like they just came back. Judging by the wounds on Sasuke, it wasn't a regular mission for Genin. Kakashi and Sasuke were standing at the information desk, asking to receive treatment for Sasuke.

"It's not like I really need it…"

Sasuke didn't want to be viewed as weak.

"You probably don't need it, but you can never be too careful."

Kakashi had to drag him here against his will.

Riko, noticing the scene, quickly approaches them. The nurse at the information desk then smile at her.

"Ah! Riko, you're here."

Riko then smiled back and pointed at her and then at Sasuke.

"Oh, you want to take care of him? You're not busy?"

Sasuke looked at her, intrigued. He remembered her from his class, but then she suddenly stopped attending. He didn't really care much to find out where she went. Now, she was here, in the hospital, and it seemed like she was pretty well known too.

Riko shook her head, signalling that she wasn't busy.

"Well, I'll be very grateful to you if you take care of that brooding child."

Sasuke glared at Kakashi. Riko then took Sasuke's hands in her own. Startled by the sudden contact, Sasuke blinked and wondered what she was doing.

His question was almost immediately answered when he felt a wave of comfort flowing through him. He then looked at his wounds and was astonished to see them close up so fast without feeling any chakra flow.

When she was done, Kakashi thanked her. Sasuke was still a bit shaken by what had just happened, so he stayed quiet and followed Kakashi out.

Riko resumed her usual day. On her way out, the nurse at the information desk stopped her.

"Riko, I have an important message from the Hokage. He wants you to go see him as soon as possible."

Riko nodded and gave the nurse a thumbs up, as thanks. She then headed straight to the Hokage's office. After knocking on his door, she was invited in.

"Riko, I see you got my message,"

Riko nodded.

"I won't keep you here for long, so let me get straight to the point. The Chunin exams are right around the corner. Since you won't be participating in them, I wanted you to be a member of the emergency medical team. You'll always be on standby during the exams, and will intervene if anything proves to be life threatening for the shinobi taking the exam."

He started explaining to her that there were some exams that she wouldn't be needed in, but would still be around for anything unusual that might happen. She would also always be accompanied by medical ninja.

Riko agreed to the Hokage's terms and went back home. When she arrived home, Kurenai was back. Since the graduation of the class that Riko was part of, Kurenai had been taking D and sometimes C rank missions, since she was now in charge of a Genin squad. She would therefore be home more often than when she had to go on long B rank and A rank missions.

"Riko, you're back. How was your day?"

Riko made a bunch of signs, explaining to Kurenai what had happened during the day.

"You went to the hospital… found who?"

Riko wrote Sasuke and Kakashi's name with her finger in the air.

"So you found Kakashi and Sasuke. Sasuke was injured? That's odd. I'll have to ask Kakashi about what kind of mission would get them injured when they're still Genin. They shouldn't have had any dangerous missions."

Riko shrugged, just as confused about the situation. She then resumed explaining her day to Kurenai through signs that Kurenai had grown accustomed to during the years Riko and her lived together. Riko was now twelve. Kurenai felt like both her mother and older sister.

"You're alright with working for the Chunin exams?"

Riko nodded.

"I actually recommended Hinata, Kiba, and Shino for the exams. I think they're ready for it."

Riko hadn't really talked to the three of them, considering how busy she'd been. She actually missed Hinata. The kunoichi was the only girl her age that Riko felt comfortable around. Working at the hospital, Riko got to know all of the staff, who actually adored her, but they were all much older than her. She loved being around them; however, she still yearned for someone her age that she could connect with. She would also sometimes see Naruto, but not enough for more than a greeting. Working in the Chunin exams, she hoped to at least see them a bit more often for the duration of the examination. After eating with Kurenai, Riko went up to her room. She took out her diary and started writing. She hadn't skipped a day since she settled in Konoha. Her mother's diary was what inspired her to write about her life. She also felt like, if she ever wanted anyone to know who she really was, she wouldn't be able to tell them. All she had was her writings about herself.

* * *

 **So what did you guys think? Is it going in a direction that you were expecting? Do you like how this is going?**

 **Review and tell me!**


	9. What She Felt

**This chapter was so much fun to write! When you guys read, you'll know why *wink wink***

* * *

Chapter 9: What She Felt

Riko was on her way home from the hospital when she bumped into Naruto who was talking to three kids from the Academy. Riko remembered seeing them before. One of them was the Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru. The odd thing about the scene, though, was that Sakura was chasing them. Riko decided to follow them, since she was curious about what was happening. They turned a corner, and, when Riko reached that corner, she saw a guy holding Konohamaru up by the collar. Seeing this, Riko was feeling that Konohamaru was in danger.

"Let him go!"

Naruto was shouting at the stranger. When he attempted to land a punch, the stranger slightly moved his fingers which resulted in Naruto tripping over thin air. Riko didn't understand what was happening, since she couldn't sense chakra. She just desperately wanted to do something to help Konohamaru. Without thinking, she stepped forward and stood in front of the threatening male. She then also noticed that a girl was with him, trying half-heartedly to stop him.

"Riko-chan!"

Naruto exclaimed, surprised to see her. When the guy noticed her, his eyes narrowed.

"You want a piece of me too, little girl?"

"Aaah, uuuh!"

Riko tried to convey to him to let Konohamaru go. Of course, he didn't understand her intentions.

"Hah, what are you? Can't even speak normally?"

"Don't talk like that to Riko-chan!"

The stranger with face paint mocked her. Naruto was getting angry instead of her. She didn't care, however, about the mocking. She just wanted him to let Konohamaru go. Her strong desires manifested, and the stranger started getting lifted in the air. Astonished and horrified by what was happening, he let go of Konohamaru and started flailing his arms and screaming in horror.

Riko caught the falling Konohamaru, and the stranger fell to the ground.

"W-What was that?!"

"Kankuro, I told you not to mess around…"

The female stranger beside him said, just as shaken as he was.

"You little…! I won't let you get away with-"

"Kankuro, you're a disgrace to our village."

A voice came from a tree behind the strangers. Everyone shifted their gaze towards the origin of the voice. What they saw was a boy, around Riko, Naruto, and Sakura's age, standing upside down, using his chakra, on the lower part of one of the tree's branches. He had blood red hair, light turquoise eyes, which were surrounded by black rings, contrasting with his pale skin. He carried a gourd on his back and was looking coldly at the one he called Kankuro.

"G-Gaara…"

Kankuro was clearly nervous at the new arrival. No one had sensed him there. How long had he even been there? Riko was wondering. When she looked at him, she felt like he was hiding a very deep sadness. This ability to see someone's emotions was something that she had noticed only lately, since she was still young to understand emotions until recently.

"Losing yourself in a fight, how pathetic… Why do you think we came to Konohagakure?"

The one named Gaara said in a very cold tone of voice. It was almost threatening.

"Listen Gaara, they started it and…"

Kankuro hurried to justify his actions.

"Shut up… I'll kill you…"

This time it was definitely a threatening tone that he was taking. It made Riko shiver a little. Her great affinity to emotions and feelings made her very vulnerable to them when others projected them strongly.

"Alright, I'm sorry…"

Kankuro quickly responded in fear.

"I'm also really sorry…"

The girl who was with him also said. Gaara then shifted his eyes towards Riko. He then transported himself down in front of her.

"Sorry to you guys."

He was very curious as to how Kankuro was lifted in the air like that. He didn't even sense any chakra, so it may not had even been a jutsu. Instead of answering, Riko just kept staring into his eyes, trying to read the complicated emotions he had. He also kept staring back, trying to figure out how she did it. Gaara then broke the eye contact and turned around to Kankuro and the girl.

"It looks like we got here early, but we didn't come here to play around."

"I know that…"

Kankuro mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Let's go."

Gaara said in a commanding voice.

"Hey, wait!"

Sakura stepped forward. At her voice, the three strangers turned towards her.

"What?"

Gaara answered in an annoyed voice.

"Judging from you headbands, you guys are from Sunagakure. You may be allies with Konohagakure, but it is forbidden for shinobi to enter each other's villages without permission. State your purpose. Depending on it, we may not be able to let you go…"

Riko looked at Sakura strangely. Wasn't she aware of the Chunin exams? Riko was quite sure that those three were here for that. Maybe Kakashi-sensei didn't tell them yet.

"Hah, talk about clueless… Don't you know anything?"

The girl from Sunagakure said mockingly. She then took out a pass.

"You're right, we are from Sunagakure. However, we have proper permission to be in Konohagakure. You see, we are here for the Chunin exams."

"Chunin Exams…?"

Naruto looked confused. The girl explained to him what it was, exasperated at his lack of knowledge. When she was done, Naruto turned excitedly to Konohamaru.

"Hey, Konohamaru! Think I should enter this Chunin exam thing?"

Gaara then turned his attention back to Riko who was still staring at him.

"What's your name?"

Gaara wanted to know more about that strange girl. He had acknowledged her mysterious power, and was genuinely curious in knowing more about her. His voice seemed to snap her out of her staring at him.

"Ah! ah…"

She didn't know how to tell him her name. She then pointed at her mouth and made an X with her arms.

Gaara, confused by what she was doing at first, finally got it.

"Can't talk…"

Riko then pulled on Sakura's sleeve who was standing the closest to her.

"What is it, Riko?"

Riko then looked at Gaara, seeing his reaction to her name.

"Riko… You're interesting."

He then turned towards the other two shinobi from Sunagakure.

"Let's go."

They all then went on their way. Riko just kept staring at them until they were out of her line of sight. During the whole time she kept eye contact with that Gaara boy, she found nothing but negative emotions. Hate, anger, sadness, hopelessness… She wanted to know more about him. She wanted to help him. However, his wounds weren't physical, like the ones she's used to healing. His wounds were much deeper, and much more painful. The emotional pain and turmoil inside him made Riko's heart squeeze in sadness. She sincerely wanted to erase all of his negative emotions and replace them with happiness.

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 **Alright, so tell me how you like it so far! Do you like the interaction between Gaara and Riko? Tell me in the reviews!**


	10. A Cursed Being

**Here's the next chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it :D**

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Chapter 10: A Cursed Being

"The first test is a written exam. Therefore, we will not be needed there immediately."

The head of the medical team for the Chunin exams was explaining how they would proceed. Riko was paying a lot of attention, making sure not to miss anything.

"Tomorrow is the second test. That is where we come in. We'll be stationed at the tower in the Forest of Death, which will be the destination for the contestants. At the end of the second test, some of us will be dispatched in the forest, with the exact location of the contestants that are in critical condition, while the others stay in the tower until further instructions. That's it for today. Meet up in front of the forest of death tomorrow morning."

The members of the medical team were then let go for the day. Riko went out, hoping to see how things were going in the first exam. She knew that it was held in the Academy. She wanted to go cheer Naruto and Hinata on, as well as see how they'd do. The exam was still in session, so she would have to wait when she got there. She also knew that the place would be heavily guarded to prevent any cheating. Riko was a bit scared of getting caught, but her desire to cheer on her friends was stronger.

First, she went around the school from far, trying to spot which classroom's window was the one they were taking the test in. She spotted Gaara, the red haired boy she met before, in the third floor window. Riko felt even more strongly about getting to that window after seeing Gaara there. She made her way the Academy yard, getting to the closest tree to the window. Oddly enough, none of the Chunin stationed there noticed her. Unbeknownst to anyone, even herself, her desire to be concealed awakened her powers, making her invisible to those she didn't want to be seen by. She climbed up the tree with agile movements, and sat down on the branch right next to the window.

Noticing a presence, Gaara slightly shifted his eyes to the window. Seeing Riko there surprised him, since no one else seemed to notice her. He surveyed the Chunin and Jounin in the room, but none of them seemed to have a change in behaviour, meaning that none of them sensed her there at all. He was really getting intrigued at how she was able to do that. He then decided to stop pondering on it and focused his mind back on the test before him.

Riko was able to see everything that was happening in the classroom. She didn't notice, however, when Gaara slightly looked at her. She spotted Naruto and Hinata sitting next to each other in the middle of the classroom. Sakura was a bit behind them, and Sasuke was a bit further in. She noticed how almost everyone was using weird jutsu to cheat. Riko wondered how a lot of them weren't getting caught doing that. She was sure that the shinobi in charge of this exam could spot these tricks. Sitting on the branch, she was admiring the creative and interesting jutsu that the examinees were using. At some point, everyone started paying attention to the front of the class. Riko looked in the same direction and found the exam proctor talking to them. She couldn't, however, hear anything, since she was on the other side of the window. She noticed that a lot of people were leaving after what the proctor said. More talking went on, then Riko sensed a presence close by. Turning her head to the side, she caught a glimpse of something crashing through the front window, into the classroom. Startled by it, and not wanting to get caught, Riko quickly jumped down and got out of the Academy yard. She decided to just wait for her friends to be done at the entrance.

She didn't have to wait long until people starting coming out of the Academy. The first people who came out were Gaara and his team. Gaara was walking in front, and the other two were following. When Riko saw him, she gave him a small smile. Noticing her, Gaara stopped in his tracks. He slightly frowned at her. He was wondering why she was smiling at him. He also wanted to find out about how she was able to sneak up to that tree branch. More than anything, though, her existence was annoying him. He couldn't figure her out.

Seeing him staring at her, she looked at the ground, fidgeting a little, not knowing what she should do. Gaara's two teammates decided to just go on ahead, not wanting to be around him for longer than they had to.

"Riko-chan!"

Naruto's voice called out. Hearing it, Gaara decided to leave. Riko made a step towards him, wanting to follow him, but restrained herself. Naruto then caught up with her and started telling her about how he "aced" the first exam. When Hinata also joined them, Riko smiled widely, happy to see her friend. Riko never really had much time to see any of her friends, so this was one of the rare opportunities. Soon, all the nine rookies of their grade were gathered together. After talking for a bit in front of the Academy, they each went their separate way.

Riko decided to walk around for a bit, since Kurenai was out with Asuma that day. Asuma was also a Jounin in charge of a Genin squad, specifically Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino. Kurenai had been going out with him a lot, recently. Riko was happy for her, of course, since Kurenai always seemed excited to see him. When Kurenai talked to Riko, she would tell her all about Asuma, since Riko was such a good listener. From how Kurenai talked about him, Riko figured that Asuma was much more than a simple colleague to her. Since Kurenai was out to see Asuma that day, Riko knew she'd be home quite late.

Walking around aimlessly for a while, Riko bumped into one of the shinobi from another village. He didn't look happy about that. When he turned around to face her, Riko recognized his and his teammates' headbands as being from Kusagakure, the village where she spent her childhood, and where her mother died.

"Watch where you're going!"

Riko just stared at his headband, awful memories flowing back into her mind.

"Hey! At least apologize!"

"Ah.. Ah.. Uh.."

"Haha! Can't you even talk?"

The three of them laughed at her. She then turned around and tried to get away, but one of them blocked her way. They all surrounded her.

"Now that I look at her more closely, she seems kind of familiar…"

The kunoichi from Kusagakure said while scratching her chin.

"Oh! I know! It's that cursed child! Didn't she run away from Kusagakure?"

The third member, a boy who looked a bit older than her, said while pointing at her.

"Doesn't that make her… a traitor?"

The one she bumped into said menacingly.

"And we all know what happens to traitors."

The kunoichi closed in on Riko. Riko was feeling scared. So scared that her legs were trembling. She didn't know what to do. She felt the evil intentions in these shinobi's eyes. It was the worst kind of cruelty. The one that people did just for the fun of it. This feeling she got from them terrified her even more.

"A disgusting cursed being like you shouldn't even exist. We'll fix that right now."

The kunoichi grabbed Riko's wrist and twisted it. This caused Riko to let out a sharp cry of fear and pain.

Nearby, a boy was sitting on the roof, observing everything that was going on. At first, he didn't really care. He then started to pay more attention to what was happening when he heard them calling the mute girl "cursed." His heart squeezed slightly after hearing that. It reminded him of how people looked at him. His emotions then started to boil after hearing that kunoichi say that a cursed being shouldn't even exist. He'd make them pay. He'd make them all pay.

Sand wrapped around the three ninja from Kusagakure, causing them to scream in terror and confusion. Riko was also looking at what was happening with fear in her eyes. Everything then happened so fast, that, a few seconds later, the whole area was covered in blood and limbs. Riko was amazingly fine, though, since her powers reflexively protected her. She was shaking in horror at the terrifying sight. She didn't know how it happened. She slowly got up and surveyed her surroundings, but there was no one. Unbeknownst to her, Gaara had left after seeing how she protected herself from the blood.

Riko carefully got away from the putrid sight and stomach-churning smell of blood and human limbs. She headed straight home where she found herself alone. She then curled up in a ball on her bed and cried herself to sleep.

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 **So what did you guys think? Tell me in the reviews! I answer almost everything :D**


	11. Thank You

**I wanted to update earlier, but I was sick for the past week... And my birthday was a few days ago too XD I couldn't even taste the food at the restaurant I went to...**

 **But at least I updated! haha**

 **I hope you enjoy :D**

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Chapter 11: Thank You

Riko was on the medical team that was waiting for the contestants at the tower. It was explained to her that the goal of the test was to go through the Forest of Death and make it to the tower with two scrolls to be able to succeed. Other rules also included that all three members of each team needed to arrive at the tower together. If even one of them was missing or incapacitated, the team would immediately fail. Riko's job, along with the medical team she was part of, was to tend to the incapacitated members of the teams that would be disqualified.

Every member of the medical team was then given an earpiece that would be used to receive orders and instructions from the team leader. For the time being, they were given the permission to go about freely in the tower, until their help was required. They had all arrived at the tower right before the start of the test, therefore they had quite some time before their work was required.

Riko decided to go around and explore the tower, given her curious nature. While looking around, she started remembering what had happened the day before. Her body trembled at the horrifying memories. She held and shook her head, trying to erase the images from her mind. All the blood, the unrecognizable body parts, the sand, and that awful smell… Riko felt like that was what death smelled like. Riko then leaned on one of the walls, feeling a bit nauseous. She slowed her breathing down and calmed herself. She then slipped down to the ground. She had isolated herself from the rest of her team. She was sitting close to the entrance of the tower. It was the farthest place she could get to. She didn't feel like being around anyone. She then started thinking more rationally about what had happened. How did these Kusagakure shinobi die, she asked herself. It all happened so fast. The sand had something to do with it. Someone was controlling that sand. It then instantly dawned on her. That boy from Sunagakure, Gaara, when he was on the tree, he had transported himself in front of her. She didn't know how he did that, but she remembered seeing particles of sand flying around. And that smell, even though faint, was the same as the one she smelled during the incident. Her heart clenched painfully. She didn't want to believe that he was capable of something so cruel. Even though, deep down, she knew he was, since she saw cruelty in his eyes. Her eyes started stinging her; tears were threatening to come out. She swallowed, trying to keep control over herself.

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there, until a voice sounded in her earpiece.

"Attention all medical team members, the first Genin squad is here in the record time of one hour and thirty-seven minutes. All three have passed, so don't administer any healing to them."

The voice then cut. Riko quickly got up. She wondered who that team could be. Before she could think of anyone, the entrance to the tower opened. When Riko saw who it was, her body started shaking a little. It was Gaara's team. When he passed by, his eyes slightly looked in her direction, without him slowing his pace. Riko smelled the same blood smell that she smelled the day before. She was sure this time that it was Gaara. She wondered why he did it. She was still scared, but grateful at the same time. She wanted to tell him that she was. Without what he did, she didn't dare to imagine what would have happened to her, or to them. She knew that she might've ended up being the murderer if things got too desperate.

Riko decided to go see Gaara if he ever found himself alone without his team members. Knowing how uncomfortable they felt around him, she knew they'd get away from him as soon as they could. Sure enough, as Riko had expected it, Gaara was standing alone in an isolated part of the tower.

Riko felt nervous about talking to him. It wasn't fear this time, but something else. She made sure she had her little notepad and a pen. She then slowly made her way to where Gaara was. He noticed her coming from far and looked at her suspiciously. When her eyes met his, she stopped in her tracks. She felt that he didn't want anyone to come near him, but then… there was a tiny hint of curiousness hidden there. That's what gave her the resolve to keep approaching him. She knew that his curiosity would get the best of him.

Seeing her getting closer, Gaara slightly frowned. He didn't feel any danger from her. The fact that she was approaching him so fearlessly was intriguing him. What did she want, he asked himself. To his surprise, he noticed that her cheeks were getting tinted in a light shade of red. His frown eased up a bit, giving in to his curiosity.

Seeing how his expressions eased up, Riko's lips formed a small smile that she tried to hide behind her notebook. Gaara still noticed it, however, and it made him more confused about her.

Riko was finally standing right in front of him. She nervously waved at him slightly.

"What do you want?"

Gaara tried to make it sound more like a threat than a question, but Riko saw right through it.

"Ah! Uh…"

She took her pen and wrote something down. Gaara stood there, impatiently waiting to read what she had to say. He knew that she couldn't speak. He had figured it out from the first time he saw her. He didn't know why, though, and didn't care to know. At least in the beginning he didn't care to know.

After Riko had finished writing down what she wanted to tell him, she tore the paper out of her notebook and handed it to him. He slowly took it from her and read it.

 _Thank you for yesterday._

That was all it said. It was also all it took for Gaara to feel a strange warmth in his heart. Riko saw it. She saw his surprise, which overpowered all other emotion. There was also a bit of anger, but not very noticeable. Another emotion that was even less noticeable was happiness. It only appeared for a second though, before Riko couldn't sense it anymore.

Gaara didn't know how to react to this. No one had ever thanked him before. Everyone was afraid of him. He also thought that Riko was afraid of him, but she fearlessly approached him and even told him about her gratitude. He didn't even do it for her sake. He wanted to tell her that, but he couldn't. The innocence in her eyes was catching him off guard.

A voice sounded in Riko's earpiece again.

"Attention all tower medical team members. A team is arriving at the tower. One of them is in very critical condition. Your assistance is required immediately at the tower entrance."

"Ah…"

Riko felt the alarm, but she also felt a bit disappointed that she couldn't talk to Gaara more. She quickly waved at him while running towards the entrance.

When she was gone, Gaara folded the paper she gave him and placed it into his weapon pouch.

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 **Tell me in the reviews how you like the little development between Riko and Gaara :D**


	12. Preliminaries Part 1

**I wrote this while working XD**

 **I hope it doesn't sound too rushed...**

 **Enjoy :D**

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Chapter 12: Preliminaries Part 1

Riko started getting busy with healing the various contestants who had failed the exam that she didn't have any more time to go back and spend some time with Gaara. Even when she had a bit of free time, it was never long enough to go see him.

It was already the second day of the exam. Riko noticed that Naruto and his squad were still not there. She was starting to get a bit worried. Hinata's team had already made it from the first day, but Riko didn't really have that much time to go talk to her, especially that, even if she did have a bit of free time, she would've definitely used it to get to know Gaara more.

Finally, at the end of the second day, right before the end of the exam, Naruto's team made it back. The Hokage and Mitarashi Anko, the exam proctor, came to the tower at the end of the exam. The leader of the medical team gathered Riko and the others to tell them what the next step will be while Anko was explaining it to the shinobi that made it.

"Alright, so there was a sudden change to the exams. There will be a preliminary right now, since there are much more contestants that succeeded this exam than it was initially planned. Our job is to provide first aid to those who fail this preliminary."

The head of the medical team then kept explaining what the preliminaries were all about. Two random contestants will be pitted against each other until one of them either gives up or is incapable of fighting. Riko started to feel anxious about the possible incidents that might happen during these preliminaries. She looked at all the contestants who had also received the news and noticed that a lot of them were protesting against it. Most of them were exhausted from what they went through in the forest, which was understandable, but Anko didn't want to hear any of it.

"If you think you can't do it, then be my guest and forfeit."

When she said that, they all looked at each other, trying to see if anyone would actually do that. Against all expectations, one of the contestants, a man with silver hair tied in a ponytail and circular glasses raised his hand.

"I forfeit. I'm way too worn out to continue fighting."

He then dismissed himself. The first names were then immediately displayed. It was Sasuke against Akado Yoroi. The medical team and the rest of the contestants go up to the balconies to watch from a safe distance. Riko had never heard of Akado Yoroi, even though he was supposedly a Konoha Genin.

The match started and, right off the bat, Yoroi's hands glowed with the blue aura of chakra. He then immediately pinned Sasuke down, clutching his head. Riko gasped and brought her hands to her mouth. Sasuke was trying to resist, but he couldn't do anything. That was when Naruto started taunting him.

"Hey what happened to the great Uchiha clan? You're giving up already?"

Riko sensed that Naruto was saying all of this out of concern for Sasuke and to get him to find the strength to fight back. It seemed to work, since Sasuke was able to kick his opponent off of himself. He then charged at him and kicked him up in the air. He then jumped up after him and gave him a turning downward kick which sent Yoroi plummeting to the ground. With that decisive move, Sasuke was declared the winner. Riko and her team then took Yoroi away and started treating him on the side while the second match between Aburame Shino and Abumi Zaku began.

Yoroi's injury wasn't too bad. He was just knocked out. They applied a few bandages to his head and back, keeping their chakra for more serious cases. After they had taken care of him, the next injured contestant was brought in. It was Zaku who had lost against Shino. His arms were almost completely obliterated. It was full of holes and was bleeding profusely.

"Riko, want to take care of this one? His injuries are really serious and it would cost us a lot of chakra."

Riko nodded. Her healing powers didn't use up much of her energy. She also understood that the other medical ninja didn't want to waste their chakra on non-fatal wounds, especially this early on in the preliminaries. She looked at the display board and saw the names of the next contestants. It was a man named Tsurugi Misumi and Gaara's teammate Kankuro. She then shifted her attention to the whimpering Zaku. She held his hands in her own and closed her eyes, concentrating on her desire to heal him. His wounds started to close up and, in almost no time at all, his arms were completely healed, leaving only scars. Riko sighed in relief.

However, it was no time for the medical team to rest, since the next person who came in was Tsurugi Misumi who had been defeated by Kankuro. His case was a bit more serious. A lot of his bones were fractured and dislocated. Some of them were even completely broken. That required surgery, though. Riko was told to take care of the fractured bones while someone else placed the dislocated ones back into place. Half of the medical team then took Misumi away to the operation room. Riko stayed behind with the first aid team, waiting for the conclusion of the next fight that had already started.

It was Sakura and Ino. Riko didn't know who to root for, since she considered both of them to be her comrades. The conclusion didn't decide either, since the fight ended in a draw. None of them needed medical attention, since they were just exhausted from the fight.

The fifth match was Tenten against Temari, Gaara's other teammate. It was completely one-sided, with Tenten's weapons being fully countered by Temari's fan's wind attacks. Tenten, having lost her consciousness due to the intense attacks, fell straight down onto Temari's fan. Temari then cruelly laughed and tossed her away. Rock Lee, who Riko had seen around the village a few times, jumped down as fast as he could to catch Tenten's body. Riko went ahead of the medical team, not bearing to stand and watch any longer and went up to Tenten's body. Everyone's attention shifted to Riko, while the medical team started following her. Riko held Tenten's hand and saw that her spine was fractured from the fall. There were also a lot of cuts and wounds from the wind attacks and weapons. Riko closed her eyes and started her healing process. Rock Lee gasped at what he was seeing. Tenten's wounds were closing up, and fast. Temari was also awed at what was happening, but she didn't show it. Gaara, up on the balcony was also observing what Riko was doing. He knew that she wasn't normal. He was even more curious now about her. Tenten then regained consciousness and was brought away.

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 **Thank you for reading!**

 **Review and tell me what you think :D**


	13. Preliminaries Part 2

**It's been less than a week and I'm already updating! What's wrong with me? XD**

 **I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Since it's some more of the matches, it won't be extremely exciting in terms of romance *wink wink***

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Chapter 13: Preliminaries Part 2

The sixth match was between Nara Shikamaru and Tsuchi Kin, an Otogakure ninja. Riko was silently cheering for Shikamaru, since he was a Konoha shinobi. Kin was dodging Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation Technique while throwing at him senbon. Some of them had bells attached to them, and some of them didn't. Shikamaru noticed that she was using strings attached to the bells to distract him and attack him when he's open. He then noticed that the strings left a very small shadow. He held onto one of the strings, and linked his shadow to Kin, with her only noticing when it was too late. He then threw a kunai knife at her, resulting in her doing the same thing as him. When Shikamaru ducked, however, Kin hit her head on the wall behind her in the process, resulting in her losing her consciousness. With that, Shikamaru was declared the winner. Riko quietly rejoiced at the outcome.

The seventh match was Naruto against Kiba. Riko focused intensely on this match. More than anything, she wanted Naruto to win. Kiba started off by transforming Akamaru into another Kiba, using the Beast Human Clone Technique. Naruto then transformed into Kiba, confusing Akamaru and Kiba as to who the imposter was between the three. After incorrectly punching Akamaru, Kiba got angry and covers the arena in a smoke bomb and attacked Naruto without stopping. After the smoke dissipated, Naruto tried to cast a jutsu. Kiba, seeing that, quickly got behind him to attack him. Suddenly, Naruto let out a fart that knocked Kiba out due to his intensified sense of smell. Riko did her best not to laugh at that outcome.

The emergency medical team took Kiba away on a stretcher. The eighth match was Hyuuga Hinata against Hyuuga Neji. While Riko was pushing away Kiba's stretcher, Hinata passed them by. Kiba then urged her to forfeit the match against Neji. Riko noticed that Hinata had a lot of fear in her eyes. Having seen the names of the two contestants, Riko realized that they were both from the same clan. She did suspect it, since both their eyes gave them away. After psychologically abusing Hinata and turning her fears against her to force her to forfeit, Neji started attacking her relentlessly. Hinata seemed to be able to hold her own against him, thanks to Naruto's encouragement. Ultimately, though, Neji had already blocked all of Hinata's chakra points. Aiming at her heart, he caused her to cough up blood and fall to the ground.

"Give up, I win."

However, Naruto kept cheering for her which gave her the strength to get back up, even in her horrific condition. Angered by it, Neji raised his hand to strike with the intention of killing her. The exam proctor, seeing what it would lead to, stopped him along with the help of other Chunin. This was the cue for the medical team to come in and take Hinata, who had collapsed completely, with no sign of movement.

Riko was worried sick about Hinata's condition. They took Hinata away on a stretcher to the emergency room, leaving only three medical team members back for the next match. Even though Riko protested, she was told to stay there. Riko wanted to be there for her friend. She wanted to treat her, but they told her that her skills were better suited for first aid, and not surgeries.

The names for the ninth match got displayed next. As soon as Riko saw the names, she was actually a bit relieved that she was forced to stay back. It was Rock Lee against Gaara. Her heart started beating faster, in anticipation to the match. She secretly hoped for Gaara to win. When he came down the stairs, he looked at her, since she was right next to the stairs. They eyes crossed for a split second and she could see that his were filled with murderous intent. She shuddered, now feeling more fear than excitement. She was scared for Rock Lee.

The match started with Lee attacking Gaara at an incredible speed, only to be blocked by Gaara's sand. After realizing that he couldn't touch him, Lee evaded Gaara's attacks and jumped up on of the large statues that adorned the arena. He then took off a few weights from his ankles and dropped them to the ground, causing them to make huge craters. Riko never thought they were that heavy. Due to his speed being extremely fast, Gaara's sand barrier was unable to keep up with the attacks. Lee's kick landed on Gaara's face, causing him to be flung away. Riko gasped at the sight and brought her hands to her mouth. She didn't like seeing Gaara getting hit. Gaara gets up, revealing his face to be cracked at the location where the kick landed. The fragments that fell off his face revealed to be sand that had been placed all over his body as another layer of protection. Lee, not letting this faze him for too long, charged at Gaara and kicked him up, in a similar manner to what Sasuke did to Yoroi. He then wrapped him up in his bandages and spun at high speed down to the ground, their bodies upside down. Riko started trembling at the sight of their plummeting bodies. This could be very deadly, and she knew it. When they hit the ground, Lee jumped away, leaving Gaara's limp body half buried in the ground. Riko was about to run to Gaara's body, but she stopped when it started disintegrating into sand. It turned out to only be a sand clone. Gaara then reappeared behind Lee, who, having sensed it, got away as fast as he could from Gaara's attacks. Riko sighed in relief.

She didn't know why she cared so much about the well-being of Gaara. She just felt like the loneliness she saw in his eyes was the same as the one she had gone through.

Lee, having seen that his normal attacks would not work, started opening the inner chakra gates. These gates were chakra points that controlled the chakra flow throughout the body. Lee opened the first five, which resulted in his strength immensely growing for a short period of time. Lee then unleashed an explosive attack called the Reverse Lotus on Gaara, kicking him at high speed down to the ground. This, however, didn't work either, since Gaara dispersed his sand gourd under himself to cushion his fall.

Without waiting, Gaara counterattacked with his sand. Lee, injured and exhausted from opening his inner gates, wasn't nearly quick enough to get away from the sand that wrapped around his left arm and left leg.

"Sand Coffin!"

Gaara closed his fist as he said that, causing the sand to crush Lee's limbs. Lee let out a pained scream and then fell unconscious to the ground. Just as Gaara was about to attack once more with the intent of killing Lee, Guy came down and stopped his attack, protecting Lee.

The medical ninja then rushed to Lee's side, but, before they took him, he stood up on his own, in a fighting position, clearly not having given up.

"Lee…"

Guy turned towards his student.

"I… I'm sorry, Lee! I shouldn't have taught you that technique. It was foolish of me! Lee…"

Riko looked at Lee, still standing. His eyes, however, showed that he was completely unconscious. This pained Riko. She didn't want to see this. She didn't want to see Gaara hurting someone so badly. She then turned her gaze towards Gaara, who had now gotten up. His eyes terrified her. She could feel his rage and anger like never before. He was clearly not happy to see Lee still alive. She wanted to go treat his wounds, but she knew he wouldn't let anyone get near him. That time, she joined the rest of members of the medical team that took Lee away, since Lee needed as much help as he could get.

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 **So how did you guys find it? Do you like my more frequent updates? I hope it lasts XD**

 **Review and tell me what you think :D**


	14. Warmth

**I was so busy with work the past few days that I barely had any time to write... It's like they saw me doing nothing for so long that they suddenly decided to give me all the tasks they have XD**

 **But I was finally able to write this! I hope you enjoy it!**

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Chapter 14: Warmth

"His condition is hopeless… I don't think he can continue being a ninja."

Riko stared in disbelief at Lee, who was lying on a hospital bed. She was hearing her colleagues talk about Lee's condition after his match against Gaara. Even she couldn't do anything for him. His wounds were too serious. His bones were completely smashed into pieces. His left leg and arm were practically unusable by this point. If she wasn't on the job, Riko would've probably started sobbing. She saw how much Lee worked hard to be a ninja. She didn't know it, but she saw it in his eyes. He worked harder than anyone to get to where he was, only to have all that hard work obliterated in one battle. His dream was taken away from him. She really didn't look forward to letting him know. She knew she wasn't the one who'd break the news to him, but she also knew how destroyed he'd be to hear them.

They had been trying to keep him in a stable condition. The medical team, including Riko, had taken care of his wounds as much as they could. They firmly bandaged his arm and leg, applying different medicines to help him recover as much as possible. He hadn't woken up for the whole day. Riko was put in charge of him for his stay at the hospital.

Everyday she'd go and take care of his basic needs. She'd infuse him with the nutrients he needed through needles. She'd also regulate his intake of oxygen using the oxygen mask. When she was done with all the daily tests, she would then kneel next to his bed and hold put her hands on his arm and leg, hoping he would get better. After every session, she would find her face stained with tears. She really wanted to help him. She didn't even know if what she was doing was helping him at all. Even then, she would still do it whenever she could, hoping and praying that it would someday work.

One day, while Riko was doing her daily routine with Lee, she heard someone open the door behind her. She turned around and saw Sakura coming in.

"Ah, Riko. You're the one in charge of Lee?"

Riko nodded. Sakura gave her a sad smile. Riko then noticed the flower that Sakura was holding. Tears started threatening to come out. Sakura then went and put the flower in a vase at the window.

"You know, without Lee, I might've not been able to make it."

Riko looked at Sakura, who was now looking at Lee's motionless body.

"He saved my life in the Forest of Death…"

Sakura's voice was getting choked up. Riko put her hand on her comrade's shoulder to comfort her.

After a bit, Sakura said her goodbyes to Riko and went on her way, leaving the latter alone again with her patient. Having finished all the daily checking and tasks, Riko kneeled down next to Lee's bed, put her hands on his leg and arm, and closed her eyes. She started vehemently, almost feverishly wishing for him to heal. She was so concentrated on that, that she didn't notice at first the newcomer in the room.

For a moment, he was staring at her, in disbelief to how much emotion she was showing. Tears were uncontrollably streaming down her cheeks. She was also whimpering sometimes and her whole body was shaking. He had come here to finish off Lee who survived against him. He didn't know he'd find her there. Seeing her so concerned about Lee made him wonder why, at first. Why was she so caring towards that guy? Why was he the only one not being cared for? His anger started to rise.

Riko then noticed that someone was in the room. She opened her eyes and looked towards the door. She found Gaara standing on the other side of Lee's bed. She felt his fury. He was angry, and he wanted to kill. She then realized that he was probably here to kill Lee. She wouldn't let that happen. She stood in between him and Lee's bed and put her arms up in a protective manner. She faced Gaara while looking at him straight in the eyes. Riko saw a lot of anger and confusion in his eyes. His face, however, remained expressionless. It frightened her, but she was determined to protect Lee.

If she got in his way, he would also kill her. Gaara was thinking that as he commanded his sand to wrap around her. As the sand was getting closer to her, it stopped. Gaara's eyes became wide in shock. He wasn't the one who had stopped the sand. In fact, he was using a lot of force to make it reach Riko, but it just wouldn't go any further. Was it her doing?

Riko knew it was her doing. She knew that her desire to protect Lee manifested in her power. It was because of that that she was able to stop the sand from getting any closer to either her or Lee. She noticed that Gaara was starting to get frustrated. He reached out his hand, in an attempt to push her out of the way, but, just like the sand, he couldn't any get closer. Riko was starting to feel a bit sorry for him. She didn't pity him per say, but she wanted to get him out of all these negative emotions.

Gaara was really getting annoyed and angry at how powerless he was. He used all his strength to try to reach Riko with both his hand and his sand. Then, suddenly, and against all his expectations, Riko did something that he could've never imagined. She reached out for his outstretched hand and took it in her own. Too shocked to even think about what was happening, Gaara froze in place. He then felt a wave of warmth run through his body. Riko had her eyes closed and her touch was soft. He detected no aggression from her actions.

Riko was doing to him what she used to do to her mother. She wanted Gaara to feel that warmth. She wanted him to know that she didn't mean him any harm; on the contrary, she wanted him to know that she only wanted to take care of him, and to heal him both physically and emotionally.

They stayed there for a while, Gaara not knowing how to react, but not wanting that mysterious power of hers to end, and Riko just wishing from the bottom of her heart for him to be happy.

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 **I know I kind of cut it short and left it like that, but, no worries, it'll be continued right where it ended in the next chapter! I won't do any weird jumps to the future or anything XD**

 **As always, thank you for reading :3 and review and tell me what you think :D I love reading your reviews!**


	15. To Care and Protect

**Kyaaaaaaa this chapter was so cute to write XD I hope you guys like it too!**

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Chapter 15: To Care and Protect

Riko then opened her eyes and gave Gaara a warm smile. A movement then caught her eye behind him. Trusting her instincts, she let go of Gaara's hands and stood in between him and the newcomers.

Shikamaru and Naruto had seen Gaara go in the room and were planning on stopping him from hurting Lee. What they didn't expect, however, was to find Riko there with. What they expected even less was for Riko to stand in between them and Gaara, falling victim to Shikamaru's Shadow Possession jutsu, that was initially meant for Gaara.

Gaara, who was starting to calm down due to Riko's hands enveloping his own, was startled to see her let them go. He was even a bit disappointed that she did. At first, he was confused as to why she did that. He spun around, suddenly sensing the people behind him. Riko was already there, standing in front of him, in the same protective manner she did with Lee. He then noticed that she was paralyzed by the same shadow trick that Shikamaru used in the Preliminaries. Did she protect him? He knew that this jutsu was meant for him and not for her. He just didn't know why she protected him. It was all unreal to him. Everything she did was against all his expectation.

"Riko-chan!"

Naruto exclaimed, just as confused as everyone else by her actions.

"Riko… Why did you stand in my jutsu's way?"

Shikamaru said worriedly. He knew that this was the only way they could stand a chance against Gaara. Now that it failed, he was fearing for all of their lives. He, of course, released her right away, then tried once again to reach Gaara, but his jutsu just wouldn't go any further.

"You…"

Gaara whispered, mostly to himself as he realized what she was doing. She was protecting him, just like she had protected Lee from him. He felt a lump in his throat. He didn't understand why she'd do that. He could easily kill Lee now if he wanted, and she probably knew that. And yet, she still protected him.

"Riko-chan, he's dangerous. Get away from him!"

Riko fervently shook her head. She wasn't about to give them a chance to hurt Gaara, or give him a chance to hurt them. She then turned around to face Gaara. She saw a lot of sadness in them. It was all the pain that he went through. It almost made her cry. She didn't know what he went through, but she knew he desperately needed someone to get him out of his loneliness and bitterness. For the first time, she didn't detect any anger. She knew then that she had gotten somewhat through to him. She then slowly reached for his hand. He didn't do anything to resist it.

She then turned around and pulled him along towards the door. Again, she met no resistance. He just walked along with her. Naruto and Shikamaru were frozen in shock. Gaara didn't know what to think of anything anymore. He just didn't want her to let go of his hand. He wanted that warmth. He longed for it. For so long, he hadn't felt any love or care from anyone. Everyone feared him and hated him. She was different. She cared. She protected him, even though he was about to kill her. He let her lead him out of the hospital.

Riko didn't let go of his hand, even when they arrived outside. When they did, however, she stopped walking. She turned around to face Gaara. She didn't know where to go, but she didn't want to leave him. She would usually just stay by Lee's side wishing for his recovery. Of course, she couldn't do that now with Gaara. She wanted to talk to him. She knew she couldn't though, so she tried to get her notebook and her pen. As soon as she tried to let go of his hand to do that, however, he tightened his grip. Her eyes widened in surprise. He didn't want her to let go. Realizing that, Riko smiled at him and nodded. She understood.

Riko then pointed ahead.

"What's there?"

Gaara asked her, now genuinely curious about her. Riko then patted her stomach and pointed at her open mouth.

"Food?"

Gaara assumed, while making an effort to understand her. It was the first time for him to "talk" to someone who couldn't talk. Then again, he didn't really talk to anyone, neither did he ever want to. With Riko, though, he wanted to talk to her, even though she couldn't.

Riko nodded at his guess.

"Ah!"

Gaara wondered why she was able to produce sounds, but couldn't speak. Her vocal cords didn't seem damaged. They worked perfectly fine, from the sound of it. The only other reason why she wouldn't be able to speak, would be because something wasn't functioning right in her brain.

As he was thinking these things, he was letting himself being dragged by Riko. He didn't care where they were going, as long as she didn't let go of his hand. He didn't know anymore if it was because of her soothing power or just because of her.

Riko brought him to a local store. She didn't like going to restaurants, since it was always too loud and crowded. They both then walked towards a counter where they sold specially made bento boxes. Before reaching it, Riko stopped. Gaara then also stopped, confused by why she suddenly halted.

"Ah… Uh…"

She then pointed at the menu. Gaara took a few moments to make out what she wanted to say. Seeing that he was having trouble. Riko pointed at herself then made a talking action with her hand. She then crossed her arms, bring Gaara's hand up in the process. She then finally pointed at the menu again. Gaara's eyes then widened in realization.

"You can't place an order."

She nodded. She then pointed at him.

"Y-You want me to order for you?"

She nodded again while giving him a mischievous smile. He sighed, secretly a bit happy that she was depending him. He then started reading the whole menu, until she told him which one she wanted. When they were finally ready, he went up ahead and got the bento she asked for and got one for himself that interested him while going through every single item of the menu.

They then left the store with the bento boxes in a plastic bag that Gaara carried. Riko then lead him to a more isolated place of the village where they were mostly surrounded by nature.

She then sat down on the ground, dragging her along with her. He sat down next to her. She then pointed at the bag and he took our the boxes, giving her her own, while taking his. He then realized that he needed his right hand to eat. But that meant that he had to let go of Riko's hand. He then opted to just not eat for the time being.

Riko realized that he wasn't eating. She then looked down at their hands and understood why he wasn't eating.

"Hm…"

Riko tried to think of a solution.

"What are you…?"

Before he could react, Riko had shoved one her chopsticks holding one of Gaara's bento's meatballs in his mouth. He then chewed and swallowed.

"You don't need to feed me-!"

Before he could oppose her, she fed him another mouthful. She then happily giggled.

Gaara gave up on trying to stop her and just ate what she gave him. He noticed that she was feeding him more than she was eating. He wondered why she was so caring and kind towards him, a monster. What if she knew what he really was? Would she also hate him and fear him like everyone else? The thought of that uncomfortably squeezed his heart. He still wanted to know, though. He would tell her. Her response would help him decide once and for all if it was worth opening up to her so much, or if it was all for nothing.

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 **So how was it? :DD Cute? Not cute? Funny? XD super fluffyyyy? :3**

 **Alright I got excited there XD Tell me what you think in the reviews!**


	16. Searching for You

**I am updating pretty often these days! Maybe it's boring you? XD I still am getting great feedback :) Thanks everyone!**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

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Chapter 16: Searching for You

It was getting dark. Riko pointed at the setting sun, and then looked at Gaara. She had been giving him a tour of the village. However, now she had to go home.

Gaara was afraid. He was afraid that, once she let go, she'd never come back. It had all been too good to be true for him. As soon as she let his hand go, an indescribable rage filled him.

"Why?!"

His sudden change made Riko jump.

"You're going to turn out just like everyone else! You're going to abandon me! You're going to betray me! You're…"

Too blinded by his negative emotions, Gaara didn't realize that Riko had taken out her notebook, written something down, and was now handing him the piece of paper. With a shaking hand, he hesitantly took it from her.

 _I'll see you tomorrow?_

She was hoping she would be able to see him the next day. After seeing the note, Gaara began to calm down. He then nodded slowly.

They parted ways. Gaara folded the paper again and put it alongside the other one in his weapon pouch.

When Riko arrived home, Kurenai was there. She had been more free, since her squad wasn't being assigned on missions lately because of the Chunin exams.

"Riko, you're home later than me now!"

Kurenai jokingly said.

"Ehe!"

"It's been a while since we spent time together, don't you think?"

Riko nodded then ran up to Kurenai and hugged her. After living together for so long, Kurenai had become a mother figure to Riko.

"Ah! Ah! Eh… Ah!"

"I see you a lot to say. Let me get some tea and you tell me all about it."

The two of them spent the evening together with Riko using a sign language that they developed between each other over the years, and with Kurenai listening and talking to her as well. Riko told Kurenai about all the things that happened during the Chunin exam, taking out of course the parts that Kurenai was there for. When she got to the part about Gaara coming to Lee's room, Riko started smiling shyly. She also fiddled around with her hands, avoiding Kurenai's gaze.

"That Gaara kid is dangerous, Riko…"

Riko fervently shook her head in disagreement. She then went on about how she held his hand and how he calmed down from it. She talked about how they spent the day together. Riko couldn't stop herself from giggling when recounting what they did.

Kurenai was looking at her with soft eyes. She was worried about Riko getting hurt, but she found her so adorable acting all shy about holding hands and feeding each other.

"Riko…"

Kurenai started when Riko finished telling her everything.

"You like him, right?"

Riko's cheeks turned bright red and she hid her face behind her hands while shaking her head rapidly. This caused Kurenai to chuckle and give her a teasing smile.

"You can't hide it from me, Riko. I know that look."

Riko turned her back to Kurenai, too shy to look her in the eyes. After spending some more time together, they decided to call it a night and went to sleep.

The next day, Riko headed to the hospital to resume her daily tasks with Rock Lee. There was a bit less than a month left until the third part of the Chunin exams. Riko had decided that, after she her job with Lee was done, she'd go look for Gaara and spend more time with him. She couldn't wait to see him again.

When she finished up with Lee, she rubbed her hands together in an apologetic manner to him for not being able to stay longer and left the hospital. She wandered around the village, in hopes of running into Gaara eventually. She didn't really know where to start. Seeing that walking aimlessly didn't get her any results, she decided to ask around for where the contestants were lodged.

After getting pinpointed to the inn that the contestants were staying at, she hurried there. She went up to the innkeeper and wrote down Gaara's name on a piece of paper.

"Gaara? Let me see if his name is on the list…"

She took out a file that contained all of the guests' names.

"Gaara… Gaara… Ah! Room 206. It's on the second floor, honey."

Riko wrote thank you to the innkeeper and hurried up to the second floor. She really hoped that he'd be there.

Riko stood in front of room 206. She was feeling really nervous all of a sudden. Would he be happy to see her? She gulped and brought a shaky hand up to the door. She then shyly knocked. For a while there was no answer. Just as she was about to knock again, the door slowly opened. Riko recognized the person who had opened it. It was Kankuro, one of Gaara's teammates. He was looking at her with a bored expression.

"What are you here for, you little brat?"

"Ah!"

She wrote down the reason of her visit.

 _Is Gaara here?_

When Kankuro read it, his face twisted in annoyance.

"He's not here, and it's better this way!"

Riko flinched and looked at the ground. She saw that Kankuro really didn't like Gaara, but she just had to find him. She wrote down another question.

 _Do you know where he might be?_

Kankuro sighed in impatience.

"Do I look like his babysitter? He's been gone since this morning and hasn't come back. Now scram."

He then shut the door with a loud bang. Riko slowly turned around and made her way out of the inn. She didn't know where else to look. She suddenly felt really sad. She was looking so forward to seeing him, but it seemed like he didn't want to be found.

After walking around, her head hanging low, an idea flashed in her head. Maybe he was actually going to come to her. That meant that he'll try to find her where he saw her last time: Lee's room. Riko hurried back to the hospital and went up to Lee's room. She was hoping and wishing with all her heart that Gaara would be there, waiting for her.

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 **CLIFFHANGER... kinda XD Will she find him? I wondeeeer...**

 **Review :DD**


	17. The Miracle

**Emotional chapter up ahead! Well it was emotional for me XD I don't if I was able to convey that very well haha**

 **I hope you guys enjoy it :D**

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Chapter 17: The Miracle

She sighed. She expected to find him in Lee's room, but he wasn't there either. Riko didn't know where else to look. She thought that maybe he'd come there later, so she decided to stay by Lee's side and pray for his recovery.

Riko stayed there until the middle of the night. There was still no sign of Gaara. Coming to the realization that he wouldn't be coming, she decided to head home.

When Riko arrived home, she was alone. Kurenai had left her a note saying that she was spending some time with Asuma. Riko decided to just go straight to bed. Needless to say, she didn't sleep very well that night. She couldn't take her mind off Gaara. They had agreed to meet up that day, but she couldn't find him anywhere. She felt as though it was her fault. She should've tried harder. She knew Gaara needed someone there for him. She saw just how much he was surprised and grateful for her kindness. Riko really desperately wanted to save him from his anger and loneliness.

A few days passed by without anything much happening from Riko's daily routine with Lee. One day, while she was sitting at his side, holding his hand in hers, she felt him move. When she opened her eyes, she found Lee looking at her with a tired gaze.

"W-Where…"

"Ah! Uh… Uuuuuuuu!"

Riko was so overjoyed to see him awake that she couldn't contain her tears. She cried and cried, while hanging on to his hand, scared that it might all be just a dream.

"Why are you crying?! D-Do not cry! Was it my fault?"

Riko shook her head and sniffled. She tried to compose herself and managed to give Lee a reassuring smile. He smiled back, relieved that she was alright. He then noticed that she was tightly holding his hand and he unwillingly blushed.

"Y-You are Riko, right?"

Riko nodded, happy that he knew her name. They had never actually talked before, but Riko was known throughout the village as the mute genius medic.

Lee tried to get out of bed, but intense pain coursed through his body with every movement. He managed to sit up, but Riko tried to keep him in bed, knowing that he was in no condition to move.

"I need to train…! I can't stay here forever. The final round of the exams is coming soon."

Riko's previous happiness suddenly turned into sadness as it dawned on her that he didn't know the full gravity of his injuries. She shook her head at him, not knowing what to do to tell him. The hospital room's door then suddenly slid open to reveal one of the nurses.

"Riko! Mr. Lee's awake? Let me go notify the doctor in charge."

This was what Riko was supposed to do as soon as Lee woke up, but she was too caught up in her emotions to even think about leaving his side. A few moments later, a senior medic came in.

"You're finally awake, Mr. Lee."

"Yes, sir. I would like to ask of you to kindly release me now so that I could go back to train for the next exam-"

"There will be no excessive movement for you anytime soon."

"But I need to train! The next exam-"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lee, but you haven't advanced to the next part of the Chunin exam."

Lee's eyes widened in shock.

"What are saying…? Of course I… I…"

He then stared at the ground. The horrible memories of his match against Gaara came back crushing him.

Riko looked at Lee with a lot of sadness. She didn't know what to do to comfort him. Lee then lifted his head, his eyes full with what little hope and determination was left and looked straight at the senior doctor.

"Still! If I did not make it this time, I will make it next time. To do that, I must train and get stronger!"

"Mr. Lee… You can't-"

Before the doctor could say anything, Riko pulled at his sleeve.

"Ah!"

"Riko, I'm in the middle of an important talk with a patient…"

He still listened to her and gave her all his attention. She was a prized member of their hospital, after all. Riko wrote something down on a paper and gave it to the doctor.

 _Look at his bones again._

She would do it herself, but the process required one of the Hyuuga who had the eyes to see through the visible layer.

The doctor sighed in defeat in front of Riko's pleading eyes.

"Alright, I'll go fetch Reina before she leaves."

After leaving the room in a hurry, the doctor came back with the young Hyuuga nurse who had already changed out of her uniform.

"Sorry, Reina, but Riko is really insisting on this."

She smiled sweetly at Riko.

"I understand. Riko must have a good reason for it."

Reina then activated her Byakugan and looked at Lee's left arm and leg. She gasped. A few minutes of silence go by, that felt like an eternity for those awaiting Reina's observations.

"This…"

Reina was one of those who had seen Lee's condition after his match against Gaara. She remembered how his bones were almost crushed into powder. It had been beyond repair. What she saw now left her speechless.

"His bones… They were all crushed into tiny pieces, but now… there are just a few fractures and, the most severe injury is a broken bone in his forearm."

Everyone was looking at her, not believing what they had just heard. The doctor and the nurse were wide-eyed at the whole revelation. Riko was on the verge of screaming from joy. Lee was smiling widely.

"This… This is a miracle…!"

The doctor exclaimed. He then looked at Riko.

"What was it? What did you do? Riko, you're a genius!"

He knew Riko couldn't explain it either but he was just too impressed and awed by what had happened for him to not ask why and how and what caused such a fascinating recovery.

Riko turned towards Lee and gave him the happiest smile she had ever given. She giggled with joy and excitement at the wonderful news, causing him to smile and giggle as well.

"Thank you… I don't know how to thank you…"

Tears threatened to escape his eyes. He had never felt so relieved and happy in all his life. He couldn't wait to tell his sensei about it.

Riko never thought that her wishing and prayers would ever succeed in healing Lee to this extent. She just did it because she really truly wanted him to recover. This time again, she was thankful to have her powers and to be able to use them to help others. Before, she used to be afraid of how different she was. Now, she wouldn't trade those powers for anything in the world, not even the ability to speak.

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 **So I am aware that I made a pretty big change concerning the story, and there will be more changes to come! Tell me how you like it in the reviews, and how do you like that Lee's healed and stuff!**


	18. Final Exam

**I took a while and I'm sorry I did... I have no excuse other than the fact that I was being lazy. I hope you guys like this chapter, though!**

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Chapter 18: Final Exam

It was already the day of the third exam. Riko had tried to find Gaara every day she could, but she didn't see him. The night before, it was reported that two dead bodies were found. One belonged to the proctor of the preliminaries, Hayate, who was also supposed to be the proctor for the third exam. This resulted in Genma, another Jounin to take his place. The second body belonged to Dosu, a Otogakure ninja, and a contestant in the finals. Riko's colleagues who did the autopsy on him, told her that his body was crushed beyond recognition. Riko feared that it was Gaara's doing. She tried to convince herself that he probably had a legitimate reason for doing so, but she still hated murder.

Riko had arrived at the arena and went to take a seat next to the medical ninja. They were situated right next to the contestants' area. All of the contestants were gathered down in the battleground of the arena. Riko looked closely to see who was there. Everyone was there except for Sasuke and Naruto. She spotted Gaara standing there too. A lot was going on in her mind. One thing was that she was glad that Gaara was okay, but she was a little sad that she couldn't talk to him right away. She wanted to wave at him or something, but he didn't look in the stadium's direction even once. Another thing that preoccupied her was Naruto and Sasuke's absence. She wondered where they could be. She was worried that they might be disqualified if they're late, especially that Naruto's match is the first one.

"Riko-san!"

Riko turned her attention to the energetic voice that called her. It was Lee. Ever since she healed him, he'd been addressing her with a lot of respect and gratitude. She tried to tell him that it was okay to just call her Riko, but he wouldn't have it. She eventually gave up on it. Lee was smiling happily at her and waving from the other end of the seats. He was walking. That alone made Riko teary eyed with happiness. After waving at her, he went to take a seat next to Guy-sensei.

The Hokage got up from his seat where the Kazekage was sitting next to him and started with his welcome speech.

"Welcome, friends-"

Without even being able to finish his first sentence, an unbelievable sight and extremely loud noise coming from the entrance interrupted him. Bulls had halted at the entrance, propelling a screaming Naruto. He landed right next to the other contestants.

"I-I'm here!"

Riko couldn't help but sigh in relief. It wasn't the most elegant of entrances, but he was there and that was what counted for her. The Hokage resumed his welcoming speech and then the first match was announced. It was between Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, Hinata's cousin. Riko remembered the critical state that Hinata had been in after her battle with Neji. He had punctured almost all of her chakra points, forcefully stopping their flow. Riko feared that Neji would do that to Naruto as well.

The other contestants went up to the area located next to Riko's seat. She couldn't help herself from glancing at them, in the hopes of locking eyes with Gaara. However, he didn't even glance her way. It was as if he was purposely trying to avoid any contact with her. She felt her heart squeeze uncomfortably. She finally gave up on trying to get his attention and started focusing on what was going on in the arena.

The match had started. Naruto attacked Neji first, sending his Shadow Clones after him. Neji didn't waste time in activating his Byakugan either. Easily enough though, he destroyed every single one of Naruto's clones with his chakra infused fingers.

After being on the defensive for a while, Neji finally finally attacked. He struck Naruto with precision and power at the various chakra points in his body. Riko gasped and covered her mouth with her hands in shock and worry when Naruto coughed out blood. That usually never meant a good thing. Just as Riko feared, Naruto got back up, even in his critical state. A red aura of chakra then surrounded him. It was the first time Riko had ever seen something like that. She knew that Naruto had the Nine Tailed Fox sealed within him, but she had never seen it manifest. Naruto then summoned a lot more clones than before, now with much more chakra available to him. They all attacked Neji while the real Naruto started digging with his bare hands through the ground at an extremely fast rate. After Neji had defeated all the clones, Naruto was completely underground. Riko was really confused at to what he was trying to do. Neji, unlike most of the audience, didn't notice that Naruto was under him. In fact, he kept looking around, trying to find where his opponent had gone to. When he had noticed that Naruto was under him, it was too late. Naruto had emerged and given him a powerful uppercut, that had Neji sprawled on the ground, unable to move. With that, Naruto was declared the victor.

"Riko."

Riko turned to her medical team leader.

"I'll leave this one to you."

He gave her a trusting smile and Riko nodded. She was to take care of Neji's wounds.

"You're in charge."

Now that took her by surprise. Two other medical ninja were to accompany her. She would've thought that she had to follow one of the two's orders, but the team leader decided to put her in charge. She did have more experience than the other two, which had just recently joined the medical ranks. She then got up and they followed her down to the arena.

Unbeknownst to her, Gaara was discreetly watching her. After that day they spent together, he had been avoiding her. Even he didn't know the reason why, though. She made him feel so confused about everything. He felt like he had to get away from her so that he could sort out his thoughts. He also needed to focus on destroying his opponent during this match. He wanted to feed his bloodlust. Being with Riko made him loose all desire for bloodlust, which annoyed him quite a bit, since it was something that had kept him going for so long.

Riko and the two medical ninja rookies safely got Neji on the stretcher, under Riko's silent directions. He was unconscious by that point. On their way to the hospital room, the rookies started talking to her.

"Riko-san, do you like your job?"

She looked at the one who spoke. He was a young man, probably in his late teens, who had spiky brown hair, but striking eyes with a black slit iris. He had an obvious resemblance to Kiba. She nodded and gave him a a happy smile.

"We've heard so much about you when we were assigned to the Konoha Hospital. It was actually shocking to find out how young you were."

The other rookie said, with no contempt but only admiration. Riko scratched the back of her head and smiled shyly at the girl. She looked like she was a little older than the other rookie. Her long lilac coloured hair gave her a very soft, ladylike impression. Her eyes, matching her hair colour, looked strong and determined.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself properly! My name is Inuzuka Hachiro."

That was why he looked so much like Kiba, Riko thought. He was from the same clan. It was odd though, since there weren't any Inuzuka in the medical department. What was also weird was that he didn't carry a dog around. She'd have to ask him about it later.

"And I'm Haruno Tsubomi."

Now this wasn't a rare case. A lot of Haruno ninja joined the medical corps due to their superior chakra control.

The three had finally reached the hospital room with Neji still out-cold. The two rookies started to administer the necessary treatment under Riko's watchful eye. The procedure wasn't complicated since Neji only sustained minor injuries. It was mainly the shock that caused him to be temporarily paralyzed.

Towards the end of the treatment, he started to regain his consciousness. That was when someone knocked on the door. Riko went to see who it was and found Hyuuga Hiyashi, the current head of the Hyuuga clan, and Hinata's father.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but I'd like to speak with Neji… alone."

Riko nodded and the medical team finished up and left the room to Neji and Hiyashi. Their job done, the three of them returned to the arena and took their seats. They were filled in on what had happened. They had postponed Gaara and Sasuke's matches since most of the audience had come to see Sasuke the only Uchiha survivor. For that purpose, they went and had the other teams fight before. Apparently, Kankuro gave up against Shino before the match had even started. Shikamaru also gave up against Temari, but after a long battle when he was able to successfully capture her in his Shadow Possession jutsu. Now they had extended the waiting time for Sasuke. He had ten minutes to get there or he'd be disqualified. Naruto and Shikamaru were down in the battlegrounds of the arena, waiting there. Riko was feeling a bit worried about the upcoming match. On one hand, she wanted Sasuke to get there in time as to not be disqualified, but on the other she was scared that either him or Gaara might get badly hurt during this fight.

The minutes passed. The crowd was growing impatient. There wasn't much time left. Riko looked at Gaara. He had that scary look on his face. The same look as the one he had when he wanted to kill Lee in the hospital. Riko felt now even more worried than before. This match was not going to be good and she knew it.

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 **I still can't believe how much love Riko and this story are getting! Thank you all so much 3**

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	19. The Pursuit

**I'm back! I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but I'm finally back. Hopefully I will be more consistent with my updates from now on :)**

 **It's a bit of a shorter chapter this time, but I still hope you enjoy it!**

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Chapter 19: The Pursuit

It was almost the end of the time extension given to Sasuke. Riko thought that it was maybe for the best if Sasuke just didn't show up. Looking once more at Gaara, she was pained to see him filled with so much madness that it seemed to be blinding him from everything else.

The leaves in the arena then suddenly started swirling. It was just slowly at first, but the swirling soon picked up the pace, lifted by an increasingly intense gust of wind. Amongst the dust and leaves, two figures appeared in the middle of the arena. They were back to back. Riko gulped inwardly as she discovered the identity of the two. It was Sasuke and Kakashi. The crowd cheered as soon as they realized that Uchiha Sasuke had finally made his entrance. Gaara, without a word, without looking at anyone, turned around and headed for the staircase leading down to the arena. Riko wanted to follow him. She wanted to get up and run after him. But she didn't do that. She sat there, clenching the cloth of her skirt. She was scared. Riko was scared to face Gaara as he was. She felt powerless. All she could do was sit there and watch as the events that would start to unfold in front of her.

"Riko-san? Is everything alright?"

Tsubomi's voice snapped Riko out of her inner turmoil. She gave Tsubomi an innocent smile to reassure her. She then started to wonder why it took Gaara so long to get to the arena.

On his way down, Gaara was confronted with two men that were hired by those betting on Sasuke's victory. At that point, his bloodlust almost completely out of control. Without hesitation, almost not even acknowledging that they were threatening him, he crushed them with his sand, ignoring their cries. For him, they were just easy targets to feed his violent urges. Naruto and Shikamaru, who were on their way up, witnessed the whole scene. They stood there, frozen in fear as he walked passed them, ignoring their existence. As soon as he left, their legs gave out from the fear they had just experienced, and they sat down on the stairs.

Riko's heart leaped as she saw Gaara making his way to face Sasuke. It leaped mostly in fear. She then noticed how he had his hand up to his head. People usually did that when they had headaches. Riko thought that it was probably not a normal headache either, judging by how unsteadily Gaara was walking. She bit her lower lip in worry. After Genma announced the beginning of the match, Sasuke leaped at Gaara with incredible speed. He was so fast that Riko couldn't see him, just like how Lee was against Gaara. The sand shield couldn't keep up with Sasuke's movements, resulting in him landing many hit on Gaara. Riko couldn't help but gasp. She really hated to see Gaara getting hurt like this.

"Come on, Riko-san, you've been reacting really weirdly."

Tsubomi looked at Riko with suspicious eyes. The latter couldn't even hear anything, being too focused on what was happening to Gaara. He had now started forming a cocoon of sand around him. Sasuke then quickly weaved a bunch of signs.

"Chidori!"

His voice echoed as lighting started to form in his hand. The screeching sounds filled the arena as he ran towards Gaara, attacking him and piercing through the sand dome. There was then a momentary silence before Gaara let out a terrifying scream.

"Blood! It's my blood!"

That was what tipped Riko's emotions to overflow. She stood up, tears rolling down her cheeks, and ran to the stairs.

"Riko-san!"

Tsubomi called out to her, but Riko was already long gone. Before Tsubomi could get up and follow her, she felt a sudden drowsiness and fell into a deep sleep, just like almost all the other spectators, falling under the effect of Kabuto's Genjutsu. Most shinobi ranked higher than Genin were able to dispel the Genjutsu on themselves and started to fight back against the assailants.

When Riko arrived to where Gaara was, she found him in the middle of the half collapsed dome. Sasuke was standing further away, his arm injured. Without hesitating, Riko ran towards Gaara, who's shoulder was bleeding profusely.

"Move!"

Before she could reach him, Kankuro knocked her out of the way, causing her to fall on the ground. He and Temari then took Gaara away and headed for the forest.

"I won't let you!"

Sasuke got up and started chasing after them. Riko quickly got back up and started running towards where they went. She had to catch up to them and fast, but she knew she wasn't as quick as fully-fledged shinobi. She told herself that it was all for Gaara's sake and that she absolutely had to catch up to them. As she was jumping through the trees, she felt her steps getting lighter. Every jump she made, propelled her further than ever before. After a certain point, she realized that she wasn't even jumping anymore, but simply gliding through the air at high speed. She didn't think much of it, however, since she was getting used to all the weird phenomenas that happened when she deeply wished for something. And now was no different. She wanted Gaara safe. Riko knew that if she let Sasuke get to him first, Gaara would get hurt again and he would also hurt Sasuke. No matter what, she had to catch up to them before any of that happened.

As she glided through the air, she found Sasuke and Temari confronting each other, but she payed no attention to them, focusing instead on getting to Kankuro and Gaara who were further ahead. As she did, Temari and Sasuke noticed her and stared, wide-eyed at what they saw. Temari then started to pursue Riko, since she realized that she was after Gaara. Sasuke followed close behind, also wanting to reach Gaara.

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	20. Without Giving Up

**I'm so sorry for the long wait! I've just been getting slowly but surely addicted to Naruto Online XD I hope you guys like this chapter!**

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Chapter 20: Without Giving Up

Her heart was beating faster as she desperately tried to reach Gaara. He was suffering and she didn't want him to suffer. Riko remembered just how gentle and kind he was with her when they spent the day together before the last exam. She told him that they'd meet the next day, but it didn't happen. She felt as though it was her fault for not looking hard enough. If she had, then maybe he would've been so much happier.

Riko was steadily getting closer to Gaara and Kankuro, dashing through the air, as if thee was no gravitational force affecting her. Sensing someone, Kankuro glanced behind him. The sight left him in shock. The mute girl was flying straight at them.

"Ah!"

Riko exclaimed as she reached out her hand towards Gaara. Recognizing her voice, Gaara felt his heart squeeze.

"Stop…"

He said to Kankuro, weakly.

"But Gaara…!"

"I said stop!"

He shouted at his teammate. Kankuro, afraid of Gaara, did as he said and landed on a tree branch. Gaara then shoved him away, then turned towards Riko who was now standing on the branch right behind him. He was clenching the wound that Sasuke had inflicted on him.

"You… What do you want?"

His voice resembled an angry growl.

"Mm…"

Riko whimpered as she attempted to get closer. Gaara then screamed.

"No! Stay away! Don't take a single step forward!"

His words sounded so hateful that it immediately stopped Riko in her tracks. Tears then uncontrollably starting falling down her eyes. She didn't know why he suddenly hated her so much. She couldn't stand it. It was too painful. Riko had never felt that kind of pain before and she wanted it to stop. But she didn't know what to do.

Gaara was blinded by rage and pain. There was also fear. Fear of what was about to happen. What lied deep within him was about to come out. He was afraid of what it would cause. To make things even worse, Riko was there too. She would see his terrifying ugliness. He didn't want her to see him like this. He was sure that she would start hating and fearing him just like how everyone else did. He couldn't live with the thought of not feeling her warm kindness again. He was going to lose her just like how he lost everyone else who was precious to him. He had thought that if he distanced himself that he would become emotionless and indifferent again towards her, but it only made him realize how much he truly missed her.

"Get away! Go away!"

That was when Riko noticed the desperation hidden within his voice. However, before she could do anything, Sasuke jumped passed her, and attacked. Gaara's sand then immediately blocked him. Temari then caught up as well and stood defensively next to Gaara.

Riko stayed where she was, her knees shaking. She was scared, not knowing how to deal with the situation. She'd never been so close to the action. She saw how Sasuke was attacking Gaara with the intention to kill him. Gaara's sand was shielding him, but he didn't seem very in control of the situation. He was holding his head in both his hands and was groaning in pain.

"Gaara…! Gaara, hang on!"

Temari sounded worried for him. Riko was also worried. Gaara wasn't acting normal at all.

"Shut up!"

He shouted as he powerfully shoved Temari away, causing her to hit a nearby tree and faint from the impact. Riko let out a gasp, worrying about the Sunagakure kunoichi. Gaara then started to chuckle. His chuckle then mixed with screams of pain and insane laughter. Sasuke had pulled back on his attack, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Something unbelievable then happened. Gaara's right arm became engulfed in his own sand, as well as the right side of his face. The sand then materialized into a bulky, beast-like arm, with black claws and purple patterns. The right side of Gaara's face no longer looked human. His teeth were much bigger and he had an animal ear. His eye was black with a small yellow iris. He also started heavily salivating.

Riko had both her hands on her mouth, trying to contain herself from screaming in horror. Her eyes were wide open in fear. In that moment, she feared Gaara. She couldn't help it. This was not a normal situation.

"What are you?!"

Sasuke almost sounded disgusted. Gaara laughed hysterically.

"Do I scare you?! Do you feel completely helpless against me?! Come! Come and fight me! I'll slowly tear you to pieces!"

Riko slowly shook her head. She didn't want this. She didn't want any of this. She wanted Gaara to be back to his former self. She scared of him, yes. But she was also scared for him. She knew that he was suffering. He was like Naruto. Feared by everyone because of what was sealed within him.

Sasuke rushed at Gaara with his Chidori. In a flash, he sliced off Gaara's sand arm. Gaara screamed in pain as the sand started falling off his arm. His scream tore at Riko's heart.

However, the sand instead spread to his other arm, materializing another beast arm. Sasuke prepared another Chidori and launched himself once more at Gaara. This time, however, Gaara shoved him away with his gigantic arm, making him crash through several trees until he finally dropped on a larger branch. Gaara didn't stop there. He jumped at him, preparing to give him the final blow. Sasuke was unable to move, having used up his chakra, and having suffered many injuries.

Riko wanted to do something, but she didn't want to hurt Gaara. She didn't want Gaara to hurt Sasuke either. Just then, someone came and stood in front of Sasuke, facing Gaara, trying to protect the wounded shinobi.

It was Sakura.

"Out of my way!"

Gaara shoved her with his beast arm, pinning her to a tree, and detaching a piece of it, keeping her prisoner to the sand.

"Let her go!"

Sasuke was angry at what had just happened. Gaara laughed more.

"How does it feel? To see someone you care about getting slowly crushed by my sand? I'll crush her until there's nothing left-!"

Gaara was then interrupted by someone kicking him away.

"Naruto…!"

Naruto glared at Gaara, who was not a few trees away.

"Don't you dare hurt my friends! I won't forgive you if you lay another hand on them!"

Those words pierced through Riko's heart. There she was, standing there, feeling helpless, thinking that there was nothing she could do as she watched people who were important to her hurt each other. How could she be so cowardly and selfish? She hated herself for being afraid of Gaara. She knew that it wasn't his fault and that, deep down, he was a gentle person. Without thinking, she jumped to where Gaara was.

"Riko-chan…!"

Naruto exclaimed as he saw her fly towards Gaara.

"Stop! He's dangerous!"

Riko vehemently shook her head. No. She wasn't about to abandon him when he most needed her.

"Get away!"

Gaara, not fully controlling his actions, hit her with his arm, sending her flying in the same manner as Sasuke. When her back hit a tree, she coughed out blood.

"Riko-chan!"

Naruto exclaimed. But Riko got up on shaking legs. She healed herself while heading towards Gaara again.

"I said get away!"

He hit her again. And she got up again. She wasn't going to give up this time.

"Riko-chan! Stop! You're going to get killed!"

She didn't listen. She was beaten again and again. She got up again and again.

"Uuuh… Uuuh…"

She then noticed as she got closer to Gaara once more. His eyes were pained. He was scared.

"Stop! Get away from me!"

He sounded desperate again. Naruto, who couldn't take it anymore, prepared to attack Gaara. Riko, seeing this, flew between them, facing Naruto, protecting Gaara like she did back in the hospital.

"Riko-chan…! Why…?!"

She shook her head, crying in the process from both physical pain and sadness. She then turned to Gaara who was wide-eyed, not attempting to attack her anymore. His eyes were filled with tears.

Riko, feeling utterly exhausted by everything, started falling to the ground. The unbelievable then happened. It wasn't Naruto or Sasuke that caught her, but Gaara.

"Why… Why go so far… for someone like me?"

Riko gave him a genuine smile. She did it. She got through to him. The sand that was enveloping his was falling off. Sakura was also released, getting caught by Sasuke.

"Ehe…"

Naruto looked at them, feeling like it was not necessary for them to fight anymore.

"Riko-chan. I feel like she really gets you."

Gaara looked at Naruto, puzzled by what he just said.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you see how much she cares? She probably understands you and all that stuff. Isn't that what friends are for?"

Gaara's eyes widened.

"Friends? I've never… had that."

Naruto then started to realize that Gaara wasn't that much different from him. He had known loneliness. Unlike Naruto, however, he stayed in it for much longer.

Riko was starting to regain her strength back. Her body then immediately started healing both itself and Gaara. Gaara was still carrying her in his arms. He looked down into her eyes and felt her genuine care and innocence once more.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I hurt you…"

Riko shook her head, then realized just how close she was to him. Her face turned into a deep shade of red. This alarmed Gaara.

"Are you alright? Your face is burning up!"

Riko immediately hid her face behind her hands, getting even more embarrassed that Gaara noticed.

Temari and Kankuro, seeing that there was no more danger, joined up with Gaara. Gaara then reluctantly put Riko down, knowing that they couldn't stay there forever. Before leaving, Riko slipped a folded paper into his hand. She then signalled for him to not open it yet.

Saying their last goodbyes, the Sunagakure shinobi parted ways with the Konohagakure shinobi.

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 **So tell me what you think in the reviews! Thank you for being so patient with me :)**


	21. Visual Jutsu

**I honestly had no idea where to go with this story... I faced a major writer's block! I hope it doesn't happen again, because I was about to give up on this story because of it... But finally! Here's the chapter after such a long wait!**

 **I hope you guys enjoy it!**

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Chapter 21: Visual Jutsu

After recovering from the surprise attack on the village, a funeral was held for the Hokage who had given his life to protect the village. Riko buried her face in Kurenai's side, trying to hide away her tears. Kurenai softly patted her on the shoulder.

After the funeral, Riko just headed back home and locked herself up in her room, writing in her journal to take her mind off of everything. The next day she was expected back at the hospital. As she started to doze off, she wondered how Gaara was doing. She wondered if he read her note. With that giving her some consolation, she fell into a deep sleep.

In the morning, she got up early and got ready to head to the hospital. She noticed how Kurenai wasn't home. She didn't stop to wonder, assuming that she was probably out with Asuma. Stepping outside, she noticed how foggy it was that day. It wasn't too foggy that she couldn't see in front of her, though. Arriving at the hospital, she greeted the nurse at the reception and headed to the employee lounge to check what her tasks for the day were.

When she went inside the lounge, she was welcomed by Hachiro who was also there, looking at his own tasks. She smiled at him.

"Ah, Riko-san. It seems like we'll be working together today."

Indeed, looking at the schedule, Riko found out that both her and Hachiro were assigned the same patients. Considering that he was still a trainee, he was not yet allowed to work on his own.

At the beginning, everything was going smoothly. Riko felt that Hachiro was being very helpful to her and they were able to smoothly go through most of the tasks at a much faster rate.

"Should we take a break, Riko-san? We're way ahead of schedule anyway."

"Ah."

Riko nodded and they both started heading out. Just then some medics rushed past them. Riko's supervisor was one of them. When he spotted her, he stopped in his tracks.

"Riko! We need you! It's an emergency!"  
Riko quickly followed her supervisor and Hachiro was right behind her. They all headed for the emergency room where a man was lying down on the bed, surrounded by a few medics who were already trying to figure things out. Riko recognized the man. It was Naruto's team's sensei, Kakashi.

"Riko!"

Riko looked to the side of the room where someone called out her name.

"Ah! Ah!"

It was Kurenai. Asuma was there with her too. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of her adoptive mother.

"Sir, he's under a very powerful visual jutsu. We've tried all the known methods, but nothing's working."

Riko's supervisor grunted. He then gave Riko a quick glance.

"Everyone, out of the way. We'll let Riko handle this."

Kurenai worriedly looked at Riko. She felt as though they were putting way too much responsibility on her shoulders. This was the first time she saw her in her working environment so she didn't really know what to expect. Much to her surprise, she saw a flame of determination shine into Riko's eyes as the latter made her way to Kakashi's motionless body.

Riko then took Kakashi's hand into her own and closed her eyes. She then felt a negative force emanating from him. Whatever visual jutsu he was under was resisting. She then experienced something she'd never experienced when healing someone. A sharp headache happened so suddenly that it made her wince and flinch. It was fighting back. Riko couldn't help but let go of Kakashi's hand and clutch her head in both of hers.

"Riko!"

Kurenai ran to her and hugged her. The headache persisted.

"Riko! What's wrong?"

Her supervisor was worried as well. Riko concentrated with all her strength to expel whatever was messing with her head. After tremendous effort, her headache finally subsided and her body fell limply into Kurenai's arms, having lost all of her strength.

"This is the first time I see Riko-san like this…"

Hachiro mumbled, just as concerned as everybody else.

"I'll take her home. I don't think she's in any condition to keep working today."

"Alright."

Riko's supervisor nodded as Kurenai lifted an unconscious Riko and left the room. Asuma followed close behind.

Kurenai went home and into Riko's bedroom when she laid her on the bed. She then covered her with the blanket and started brushing her hair.

Asuma waited for her outside, not wanting to intrude. Kurenai soon joined him after making sure Riko was comfortably resting. She went and sat across from him on of the dining chairs. He extended his hand to her and she rests her own into his larger one.

"Don't worry. It'll all be fine."

Kurenai exhaled, all the tension starting to fade away as she felt Asuma's warmth.

"Yeah. It's just that so many things are happening lately and I don't know what to really think about everything."

"Itachi appearing all of sudden like that sure is strange. After what he did…"

Kurenai nodded. They both talked together for a while until they heard Riko wake up. They let go of each other's hand as soon as she made her way out of her bedroom.

"Riko, how are you feeling?"  
Kurenai smiled worriedly at her.

"Mm…"

Riko nodded slowly as she thought about what had happened. This was the first time she experienced something like that. She definitely didn't want to leave Kakashi in such a state, but she didn't know what else to do. For the time being, she decided to just take it easy. She got herself a drink and headed back to her room, letting Kurenai and Asuma have some more alone time.

Riko actually didn't mind Asuma. Sure he took all of Kurenai's attention, but she saw how happy Kurenai was with him. He was a good person, too. Riko wondered if she'd ever have someone like that. The first image that popped in her head was Gaara's face. She missed him. She wondered how he was. She didn't know when would be the next time they'd see each other, if they ever did… They had to. The very idea of not being able to see him again unsettled her too much.

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	22. Journey

Chapter 22: Journey

Riko was given a few days of vacation to recover from the shock she suffered while trying to treat Kakashi. Another reason was also because, ever since she started working at the hospital, she hadn't had even one day off.

"Ah! Ah… Ah. Eh… Ah!"

"What? You want to go to Sunagakure with me?"

Kurenai raised her eyebrows at how Riko was asking to accompany her. It had never happened before. Kurenai was given a mission that was in Sunagakure's territory. To make amends for the attack, Sunagakure had offered a place to stay and their assistance to the Konoha shinobi. They were scheduled to leave Konohagakure the day after. Finding out about that, Riko couldn't help but beg Kurenai to take her with them. It was her chance to see Gaara again. She didn't want to pass it up.

"Well… Uh… I need get permission for that."

"Ah! Ah!"

Riko started begging Kurenai. Kurenai sighed and smiled at Riko, starting to understand why she was so bent on going.

"Alright, I'll do what I can to bring you along."

Riko's face lit up and she hugged Kurenai.

"You really want to see him that badly, huh?"

Riko quickly broke away from the hug and turned away from Kurenai, her face becoming a deep shade of red.

"I knew it!"

Kurenai kept teasing Riko for a bit. She then left the house to go convince the superiors to allow Riko to come along.

The sun was already setting. Riko just waited impatiently for Kurenai to come back. As soon as she heard her at the door, she ran to open it.

"You're really excited about this, aren't you?"

Kurenai chuckled as she entered the house. Riko pulled at her sleeve, trying to get an answer out of her.

"Settle down, settle down! They accepted! You can come with us!"

Riko let out a cry of joy and clapped her hands in excitement. She then hugged Kurenai who was laughing at how excited her little girl was.

"We need to rest well tonight, though. We're leaving before the sun rises tomorrow. It's going to be a long trip to Sunagakure."

Riko nodded while still smiling widely.

That night, Riko was barely able to sleep. She was just so eager to see Gaara. At dawn, she was already awake, finished preparing breakfast, and waiting for Kurenai to wake up. It didn't take long for Kurenai to get up and get ready, but it felt like an eternity for Riko who kept whining at her to hurry up.

The two of them met with Kurenai's team at the Konoha Gates. It wasn't her Genin squad, since this was a higher ranked mission. It involved mostly some recon, but Riko didn't really care about the details.

They all set out to Sunagakure. Kurenai and her squad were jumping from tree to tree like any normal shinobi. When Riko passed through them floating in the air, some of them almost lost their footing from the surprise.

"RIko-chan! You can fly?!"

One of the chunin on the squad exclaimed. Riko flashed him a mischievous smile which made all of members laugh.

"How come you never told me about that, Riko?"

Riko shrugged and giggled.

For three days, the squad kept travelling, making sure to stop during the nights and replenish their strength.

The sun was about to set. They were all running through the desert, except for Riko who was floating above. From her point of view, she was able to see Sunagakure in the distance.

"Ah! Ah!"

She started getting excited at the sight of the village, pointing at it and trying to get the Konohagakure shinobi's attention. Riko started going faster, not paying attention to Kurenai telling her to slow down. The squad picked up their pace to keep up with Riko.

Finally arriving at the Sunagakure gates, Riko settled down on the floor under the stupefied faces of the Sunagakure shinobi that were guarding the entrance. Not far behind, the Konohagakure squad arrived as well, panting a bit heavily from trying to catch up with Riko. They showed their identification to the Suna ninja who let them through.

"You better behave now, Riko. I don't want to have to chase after you again."

"Hmph!"

Riko pouted a bit. She was actually thinking of taking off to go look for Gaara right away, but Kurenai didn't seem to be very happy about what she did earlier.

"Alright, we need to go report our arrival at the Kazekage's mansion."

"Who're we reporting to if there's no Kazekage anymore?"

One of the newer Chunin asked Kurenai.

"The elders of the village are in charge now and they have been advised about our mission."

She explained while the group made their way to the mansion. Riko couldn't help but looking around, amazed by her surroundings. She had never been to Sunagakure before. It was all so new to her. There was sand everywhere and the temperature was much hotter than in Konohagakure, which made sense considering the village was in the middle of the desert. The mansion where they were heading was huge. Just like all the other buildings, it looked as though it was built in the sand. Its spherical shape made it very different looking from the Hokage's mansion. A Sunagakure shinobi was waiting for them at the entrance.

"Welcome, Konohagakure shinobi. If you would please follow me."

They followed him inside, walking thought the many corridors of the mansion. On their way there, Riko recognized Temari who was passing through.

"Ah!"

At her exclamation, Temari looked at her. It took her a second to recognize her.

"Oh! You're that mute girl!"

Riko nodded, smiling widely. She wanted ask Temari where Gaara is.

"Riko, come on."

Kurenai called out to her. Riko hurriedly wrote into her notebook and gave the paper to Temari before she left to follow Kurenai and the others.

Temari looked at the paper and read: _'Please wait for me.'_

Since she didn't really have anything urgent to do, Temari decided to wait. Riko did seem like an interesting girl. Just the fact that Gaara would mention her from time to time got both her and Kankuro curious about the girl, since Gaara never really talked about anyone. Temari went and waited outside the Kazekage's office.

Not too long after, the door opened and Riko was the first one to come out. Seeing Temari waiting for her made her smile again. Temari couldn't help but giggle.

"Let me guess. You want to see Gaara?"

Riko's expression lightened up even more and she nodded at Temari. She then turned to Kurenai, using her eyes to ask for permission to go.

"Alright, you can go. Just don't cause any trouble. I'll come find you later."

Riko hugged Kurenai and followed Temari to where Gaara was.

"Riko-chan, right?"

"Ah!"

Riko nodded at Temari.

"I bet Gaara will be happy to see you."

Riko giggled sheepishly. Temari was starting to understand why those two were so attached to each other. At first she just thought that it was just Gaara who had feelings for Riko, but now she realized that Riko did feel something towards Gaara as well. Of course, they were both clueless as to what kind of feeling it was, but she knew they'd understand once they got a bit older. There was no need to rush anything so early on.


	23. Reunion

**More fluff! MORE! This story is all about the FLUFF! And I hope you like that too XD**

 **I seriously did not intend for it to be this fluffy, but hey I just went with the flow haha**

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Chapter 23: Reunion

"Here we are."

Temari opened up one of the many rooms in the Kazekage's mansion, revealing a spacious room. Riko felt a gust of wind as she did that. Looking inside, she found out why there was a gust of wind. The big window right across was open and there sat the person she'd been wanting to see so badly.

"Ah!"

Hearing her voice, Gaara quickly turned to the door, his eyes open wide in surprise.

"R-Riko…!"

He got down from the window frame, and was immediately assaulted by Riko's giant hug after she ran across the room to him. Taken by surprise, his arms wrapped around her as his sand stabilized them from falling backwards through the window. He felt his face heat up from the sudden contact. Temari couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.

When Riko pulled back, she realized what she had just done and covered her face in embarrassment. She got so excited that she didn't think about what she did before she did it. This made Gaara smile at how she acted. Temari then left the two alone, knowing how much they wanted to spend time with each other.

"What… are you doing here?"

"Ah! Ah… Mm…"

Riko took out her notepad and wrote down about the reason why she was in Sunagakure.

"So, you decided to come here with Kurenai-san… All that so that you can see me again?"

Riko slowly nodded with a shy smile. Gaara then reached for his pocket. He took out a piece of paper.

"It's just like what you said on this paper…"

He unfolded it to reveal what Riko had written: _I promise that we'll see each other again._

"Ehehe…"

Riko scratched the back of her head and looked at the ground while blushing. She was happy that he kept her note.

"U-Um… Do you want me to show you around Sunagakure?"

Riko nodded and held Gaara's hand, waiting for him to lead the way. This sudden contact made him remember the time back in Konohagakure where she made him feel loved for the first time. Back then, he thought it was too good to be true. He didn't want to believe that such a caring person was genuine. He was afraid to believe it and to be hurt again. But now, he wanted to open up his heart to her. He wanted to be close to her and he didn't want to let her go.

They both went out of the Kazekage's mansion, hand in hand. Riko noticed how people in the streets were all avoiding them. Riko thought about how unfair it was towards Gaara. They didn't even try to understand him. They were just all blinded by fear. And it was that fear that made him do horrible things before. It was because no one made any efforts to understand him. Riko concentrated on her hand and filled Gaara with a comforting warmth. He looked at her and smiled.

"I never really figured out how you do that."

Riko shrugged and smiled. She didn't know either.

"How long will you be staying in Sunagakure?"

Riko let go of Gaara's hand and wrote down in her notebook.

 _'Until Mama and her squad are done with their mission.'_

"So you don't exactly know."

Riko nodded and wrote more.

 _'I just hope it's a long time.'_

Gaara chuckled. They walked around some more, him showing her the different stores and streets where everyone just hid from them or avoided any eye contact. It was so bad that when Gaara wanted to get them a snack, the shop owner begged for his life to be spared. Not able to take how the owner was acting, Riko dragged Gaara out of there with her. She felt tears stinging her eyes, threatening to come out. She looked at Gaara and saw his head hanging low.

"Sorry you had to see that…"

Riko shook her head. She then hugged him, filling him with her mysterious healing power. He felt at ease, but, at the same time, his heart was beating frantically.

"R-Riko-chan…"

He then felt something wet on his neck. He pulled Riko away from the hug and looked at her face. Tears were flowing down her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?"

Riko brought her hands to her face in an effort to wipe away the tears.

"You don't have to cry for my sake…"

Seeing her crying made his heart squeeze uncomfortably. He didn't like it. He wanted her to smile. He hesitantly brought his hand to her cheeks, awkwardly wiping away her tears with his fingers. Riko couldn't help but chuckle at how unfamiliar it was for him. She could see it in his eyes and his actions that it was the first time he'd ever done something like that. Her chuckle made him blush and retract his hand.

"W-What? What's so funny?"

This made her laugh even more. Even if she was laughing at him, Gaara was happy that she wasn't crying anymore. It made him smile.

After walking around for a while, they made their way back to the Kazekage's mansion. When they got there, Kurenai was also there, waiting for Riko.

"Riko! There you are!"

Kurenai went up to Riko and arranged her hair. It was a habit that she had developed over the course of time, even if it didn't really change much. Kurenai then looked at Gaara and smiled.

"Thank you for taking care of her; she can sometimes be a handful."

Gaara blushed and scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to say or how to respond to being thanked. Riko, on the other hand, pouted.

"What? You don't think you're a handful?"

"Hmph!"

Her childish pouting made Kurenai giggle.

"So, you must be Gaara. Riko can't stop talking about you."

"M-Me?"

"Aaaah!"

Out of embarrassment, Riko kept waved her hands in front of Kurenai in an effort to make her not say anything more about the subject. This made her laugh at how adorable Riko was acting.

"In any case, I just wanted to see if you were going to come spend the night at the inn where the whole squad was staying."

Riko looked at Kurenai then looked at Gaara. Kurenai seemed to understand what she wanted to convey.

"You want to spend the night here…?"

Riko let out a small smile while looking at the ground.

"Don't you think it'll be a burden for Gaara and his siblings?"

Riko's smile disappeared and she slowly nodded.

"I-It won't be a burden… If Riko-chan wants to stay, it won't be a burden…"

Gaara half-said half-mumbled.

"Are you sure? If it won't be a problem, then I don't have any objections."

"Yes, it won't be a problem at all!"

Temari, who had come in in time to hear the later half of the conversation reassured Kurenai.

"They both rarely see each other, so why not let them spend as much time together as they can?"

"You're right. Alright, Riko. You can stay here until we're done with the mission. I'll come get you when it's over."

Riko nodded and smiled widely. She gave Kurenai a hug and waved goodbye when she left.

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 **How was it? Did you guys like it? Tell me in the reviews! XD**


	24. Threat

**I wrote this so fast, because I'm like about to leave for work in one minute! I hope you guys enjoy this!**

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Chapter 24: Threat

It had been a few days since Kurenai and her squad left on their mission. While Riko was greatly enjoying her time with Gaara, she was also starting to get worried about her adoptive mother.

"Something on your mind?"

Gaara asked her, noticing the change in her expression. They were both taking a night stroll down the streets of Sunagakure, hand in hand. Riko nodded slowly.

"What is it?"

Riko wrote "Mama" on a piece of paper.

"It has been a while…"

They were now close to Sunagakure's entrance. Riko sighed while looking through to the infinite desert surrounding the village. Something then caught her eye in the distance. She squinted to focus on the black dot that suddenly appeared and was getting closer.

"Ah…"

She pointed to Gaara at the dot in the distance. He looked at the direction Riko was pointing at.

"Something is getting closer…"

As the dot got closer, the figure was getting clearer, revealing the silhouette of a person. Riko was getting a really bad feeling. She wanted to get to that person as fast as possible. Without putting any more thought into it, she let go of Gaara's hand and ran towards the person in the distance.

"Riko…!"

After recovering from the shock he got from her actions, Gaara hurried after her. The shinobi that were guarding the entrance of the village started running after them as well.

"Hey! You two! Come back here!"

Riko ignored everyone who was coming after her, completely focusing on the person in front of her. Due to her powers, she was much faster than everyone else behind her and was able to make it to the person in mere seconds. That was when she recognized who it was. It was a member of Kurenai's squad. Not only that, but he was bleeding profusely from grave injuries.

"Ah!"

"R… Riko…"

Not wasting any time, Riko wrapped the man's arm around her shoulder, helping him walk and healing him at the same time. Gaara had finally caught up to her, along with the Sunagakure shinobi.

"Let me carry him, Riko."

Gaara used his sand to create a platform under Riko and the man, transporting both of them.

"Let's hurry back to the village."

One of the Sunagakure shinobi said, sensing the emergency of the situation. While on the platform that Gaara was moving, Riko laid the man on the sand and proceeded to heal him. By the time they got back to the village, his major wounds were all under control. He was then rushed to the hospital, Riko and Gaara in tow. Riko was allowed into the emergency room with the Konohagakure shinobi, while Gaara waited for her outside.

When the Sunagakure medics tried to get close to the injured shinobi, they were met with an invisible impenetrable barrier that Riko had put up to keep distractions out of her way until she could take care of the man. In just a bit less than an hour, she was finally able to stabilize him completely. Regaining his consciousness, the shinobi slowly opened his eyes and looked at Riko.

"Riko… Kurenai… and the rest are in danger… I was able to escape only because the enemy let me…"

Riko held his hand within hers, giving him the energy to keep talking.

"They… That group is after you."

Riko's eyes widened. Why were there people after her?

"They told me to come… and tell you where they were. If you don't get there by tomorrow night… they said that they'd execute everyone they're holding hostage."

Riko gasped.

"They want you… to go alone… But it's too dangerous…"

Riko's heart was beating fast. She was scared. She was scared, but she couldn't just abandoned Kurenai and the others. Whoever these people that were after her were, she knew that she had to go and face them. Riko then scribbled the words 'Tell me where they are' and showed them to the shinobi.

"So… you've decided to go… I won't stand in your decision. Here."

He reached within one of his pockets and handed Riko a piece of paper with the whereabouts of the enemy. Riko looked at the paper. She then got up, hid the paper and left the room. As soon as she got out, Gaara ran up to her.

"Riko! Is he alright?"

Riko nodded. Gaara then noticed how she had a grave expression on her face.

"What's wrong?"

Riko shook her head, trying to hide the tears that were threatening to come out. She was so scared and so worried, but she knew that, if Gaara knew what she was planning to do, he wouldn't let her go alone. This, she knew, would put everyone's life in danger, including his. If this enemy was powerful enough to take on a squad of top-class Jounin and Chunin, then they were not to be messed with.

As Riko tried to walk away, Gaara held her arm, keeping her from walking off.

"Riko. What is it?"

Riko then shook his arm off and ran away. She hated doing that, but it was all for the best.

Gaara, hurt by how she was acting, decided to seek answers with the man in the emergency room. When he got in, the medics all tried to get out of his way, still harbouring fear of him. The man was still conscious, thankfully.

"Tell me. What's going on? Why did Riko run off?"

The shinobi averted Gaara's eyes. Feeling rage rising up within him, Gaara grabbed the man by his collar.

"Tell me!"

His voice was menacing. The man shook from the anger in Gaara's eyes.

"T-They said to lead Riko to them! I had no choice! I-If she didn't go, they would've killed everyone else! P-Please, forgive me!"

Gaara's eyes widened. Riko was in danger and he knew that he couldn't lose another second.

"Where are they?!"

The man told him where they were hiding. For a normal person, it would take half a day to reach. Considering Riko's powers, it would take her much less time. Without a second thought, Gaara set out after her.

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 **Tell me what you thought of it in the reviews!**


	25. Captured

**I should not be writing when my finals are like in two days! But I couldn't help it... I kept it a bit short though, so I hope you still enjoy!**

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Chapter 25: Captured

After six hours, Riko reached the point in the map that the shinobi gave her. She looked around, confused by her surroundings. She was in the middle of the desert, with nothing but sand as far as the eye can reach. She looked again at the map, confirming that it was really the spot. While she was looking, she felt a sharp pain at the back of her head. Her vision then went black as her body fell forward down into the sand.

Noticing that both Riko and Gaara weren't home yet, Temari started getting worried. She had heard that one of the Konoha shinobi had arrived in pretty bad shape to Sunagakure. She decided to go check it out.

"Hey, Kankuro. Get off your lazy ass and come with me."

"What? Why?"

"We're going to look for Gaara and Riko. I'm getting a really bad feeling."

"Come on, you're probably worrying for nothing."

Temari looked at Kankuro with a menacing glare.

"I said… Get off your lazy ass and come with me!"

After shouting at him, Kankuro immediately got up and followed his sister. They headed for the hospital where the Konoha shinobi was being taken care of.

Gaara was running as fast as he could. He knew that Riko would be there much faster than him, so he didn't want to waste any time. According to the direction the man gave him, it should be located in the middle of the desert. Of course they wouldn't give the location of their hideout, but it meant that the hideout was close to that area. Eight hours after setting out, he was finally there and out of breath. He looked around frantically, not finding Riko anywhere in sight. He started looking around, using his sand to feel the recent indentations made by footsteps.

Temari and Kankuro were running to where the man told them to go. It took all of Kankuro's strength to stop Temari from beating the Konoha shinobi to death.

"I can't believe this! He'd sacrifice Riko just like that?"

"Hey, he thought it was the right thing to do…"

Even though Kankuro was saying that, he was also feeling angry at what was happening.

"He better not have led us nowhere."

Temari said between her teeth.

"Well, according to the directions, it is going to be in the middle of the desert."

"They wouldn't just give the hideout location to a guy like him. We'll just have to find it."

"Yeah… Those two better be ok."

Kankuro was also starting to get worried. The two siblings hoped that they would make it in time, before anything terrible happened.

Gaara was steadily following recent footsteps that were covered with newer layers of sand. There were only very tiny traces of footsteps that only he was able to feel, thanks to his control over sand. The only downside to doing it this way was that he had to be extremely careful as to not miss anything or to follow false trails. He wanted to get to Riko as fast as possible, but he knew that if he rushed it and lost patience then it might take much longer to get to where she was.

Riko's eyelids felt heavy. Her whole body felt like it weighted a ton. She had a pounding headache and her mouth and throat felt extremely dry. With a lot of effort, she was able to get her eyes open.

"Riko…!"

The voice pierced through her ears, worsening her headache. Riko, however, recognized the voice. She ignored the pain, feeling more relieved to hear Kurenai's voice once more. She tried moving her body, but she couldn't. She realized that she was lying on the ground. Her arms and feet wouldn't move. Riko started to panic, thrashing about wildly.

"Hey, hey! Restrain that demon child!"

A cold, harsh voice resounded. It sent chills down Riko's spine. She then felt someone pulling her up by her hair.

"Ah…!"

She then found herself looking at a pair of pitch black eyes. It was the man that was holding her by the hair. It wasn't just his pupils that were black, but his whole eyes. He was smiling crookedly at her with his scarred lips. His skin was pale, almost ashy. His hair was as black as his eyes. It was very long, with random strands falling over his face. Riko was terrified. She saw the bloodlust in his eyes. They were stone cold. It took everything Riko had in her not to scream.

"Riko! Let her go!"

Riko's gaze followed where the voice was coming from. She found Kurenai and the rest of the squad chained up on the wall. They had wounds all over.

"Hehe, does it scare you? We held back on them, though."

The man yanked her hair even harder, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Now you will cooperate with us if you don't want them all to die."

He then let go of Riko's hair and grabbed her head from under her chin, turning her towards the injured Konoha shinobi once more. There stood a bulky man, holding a knife close to Kurenai's neck. Riko's heart dropped. She didn't want anything bad to happen to them, especially to Kurenai.

"Riko-chan, this was going to happen one day or another. And not only to you either."

Riko hiccuped trying to keep her tears from coming out. The pale man was taking a mocking tone with her.

"Riko! Get away from here! I know you can do it! Don't worry about us!"

Kurenai was desperately screaming at Riko to save herself, knowing very well what that meant for the rest of them.

"Haha! You can always run now, but we'd just keep coming. As soon as you try anything, they're dead. Then it'll be someone else who's precious to you. Let's say, that Gaara kid for instance."

At the mention of Gaara's name, Riko couldn't hold back her tears anymore.

"We know how much he's precious to you, now. It'd be really unfortunate if something were to happen to him, wouldn't it?"

The pale man then looked straight in Riko's eyes, with an oppressive glare.

"You can't escape us. We've been watching you for quite some time now. We knew that we couldn't just capture you like that. We were careless enough to try that on another demon. Each demon has a certain weakness. Yours is your disgusting kindness. You almost fooled us! From all the demons we've captured, you were certainly the only one that didn't act like one. Of course, our suspicions were confirmed when we witnessed your powers. Needless to say that what awaits you now is death. You probably never knew about this, but when a demon is slain with a weapon, a portion of its power is absorbed within that weapon. You'd be surprised at how powerful those weapons become."

Riko was shivering in fear and sobbing uncontrollably. She didn't want to die, but, more than anything, she didn't want anyone else to suffer because of her. She had accepted her fate. If it meant saving those she loved, she would give up her life for them.

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 **Thank you to everyone that reviews! I really enjoy reading what you guys think!**


	26. I Will Find You

**I have summer classes these days so I won't be able to update until that's over, which is the 26th of July. This should give you guys an idea on how much time you'll be waiting. I'm really sorry about that, but these are intensive courses, so it's more than full-time... I still hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I'll see you towards the end of July!**

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Chapter 26: I Will Find You

"This should be where the location that konoha shinobi told us about."

Temari said while looking around. Kankuro sighed.

"I knew it… It's in the middle of nowhere."

"Shut up and look for clues or footprints or something!"

"As if they'd just leave their foot-! Hey!"

Kankuro ran towards something he spotted on the floor. Temari went up to him as well and looked at where he was looking. There were footprints on the floor.

"You were saying?"

Temari looked at Kankuro with a smug smile.

"I didn't think they were that dumb!"

"You're the dumb one! These are not the enemies' footprints."

Temari squatted down to take a closer look at them.

"It's just as I thought. These are Gaara's footprints. Let's go!"

The two of them followed the footprints for a while until they finally saw a silhouette in the distance.

"Gaara!"

Kankuro called out to his younger brother. Gaara turned his head towards his siblings who were running up to him. He couldn't help but feel a bit of relief to see them.

"What are you doing here?"

He asked them.

"What do you mean? We're here to save Riko-chan!"

Gaara looked at Temari with surprise. He then let out a small smile.

"…Thank you."

The siblings all smiled at each other. Without wasting any more time, Gaara explained to them what he was doing. Understanding that it was the only way they'd get to Riko, Kankuro and Temari settled on following their little brother. The further they went, the easier it was for Gaara to uncover the footsteps of the enemy.

"Seems like they started getting less cautious at this point."

Kankuro smirked.

"They probably thought that no one would be able to get this far."

Temari said. Gaara just focused on progressing forward. They were getting into the more rocky area of the desert. There were a lot of caves and crevices around.

"We're close… I know we are…"

Gaara mumbled.

Riko was trembling uncontrollably. One of her kidnappers, a woman with long grey hair and tanned skin, looking to be no older than Kurenai, had taken out a very sharp looking katana.

"You understand now, don't you? Come, be a good girl and accept your fate."

Her voice was just as cold as everyone else's.

"No, please! Don't touch her! I'll do anything!"

Kurenai was crying by that point.

"A shinobi crying? And over a demon at that? Now that's a first!"

The black haired man laughed in an exaggerated manner.

"What do you say, Riko-chan? Do you want to live in exchange of your beloved Mama?"

Riko hiccuped from sobbing so much. The man laughed even more. He was enjoying every second of it.

"Tomeo, hurry it up already. The longer we stay here, the more likely we'll be discovered."

The woman interrupted the man's laughing. He then gave her a disgusted look.

"Tch. Always spoiling my fun. Fine! Do what you have to do."

The man named Tomeo then shoved Riko towards the woman who was holding the sword. Without hesitation, she thrust it into Riko's heart.

"Ah-!"

It had all happened so fast that Riko had barely any time to know what had just occurred before she fell to the ground, her body convulsing in pain.

"Riko! No! You monsters!"

Kurenai's screams were getting more and more distant.

"Shut her up."

The woman coldly said to the bulky man who had been silent this whole time. He then quietly took the knife and, without hesitation, thrust it at Kurenai's face. Riko's eyes opened wide, horrified by what was about to happen. Before the knife reached, however, a wall of sand stopped it.

"What…?!"

Tomeo exclaimed. Riko's vision was fading. She didn't want to give in, but she had no strength left. It was as if the weapon was absorbing her energy within it. Just as she was starting to give up, she saw Gaara. He was there. He came for her. She could see the anger in his face.

"You… What did you do to Riko?!"

The look on his face was scary. It was as though he was reverting back to who he was before. With the little energy Riko had left, she held the sword and started pulling it out of her chest.

"Tomeo! Don't let her pull it out!"

Tomeo ran to Riko, but was stopped by Gaara's sand. Temari then hurried to Riko.

"Riko-chan! If you pull it out, you'll lose too much blood!"

Riko decided to not hear any of that though. She kept pulling the sword out bit by bit, grunting in pain at the same time. Seeing how determined Riko was to pull the katana out, Temari decided to help her. The sand wall was now gone, since Gaara was instead focusing on fighting Tomeo while Kankuro assisted in keeping the other two at bay.

As soon as Temari and Riko pulled the sword out, it shattered and Riko's wound closed up immediately. Temari couldn't help but just stare wide-eyed at what had just happened.

"That's it… Tomeo, retreat. There's no benefit for us to stay any longer."

Tomeo frowned.

"Don't think this is over, little demon."

After saying that, they all moved out at such a high speed that nobody could react to them. In an instant they were gone. Riko was still trembling form what had just happened to her. Temari petted her hair soothingly while Kankuro released the Konoha shinobi from their bindings. Gaara then immediately crouched down next to Riko who was sitting on the floor with Temari's help. Seeing her in such a miserable shape brought so much pain to his heart. Without thinking, he embraced her in a tight hug. His strong arms helped her calm down her trembling. His familiar smell soothed her. She closed her eyes and let her body fall limp into his arms, losing consciousness from the extreme fatigue she'd felt. Gaara carried her back to Sunagakure while Kankuro and Temari took care of the other captives. Kurenai dried off her tears, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. Riko was alive and in good hands. However, there were a lot of things that she had to think about. That group was the one they were asked to investigate. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought them to be this powerful or that they would be after Riko. She knew that the matter required more research, but she'd have to talk about it to the new Hokage. For now, she wanted to heal up and spend every second she had with Riko.

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 **Again, I'm really sorry about the long wait ahead! Tell what you thought of this chapter in the reviews!**


	27. Back Home

**Done with exams! I'm freeeee! I'll be able to post more often now! :D**

 **I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and sorry for the long wait!**

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Chapter 27: Back Home

"I see…"

A lady sitting in the previous Hokage's place said to Kurenai after hearing her full report on the mission. She was blonde with an enormous chest. Riko was told by Kurenai that the lady was called Tsunade and that she was chosen as the Fifth Hokage.

Kurenai had told her about how their investigation led to a group of criminals who called themselves Kijin.

"And you're saying that their target is now Riko."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

Kurenai answered the Hokage. Riko was asked to be there for the mission report. Lady Tsunade deemed it necessary for her to listen to everything and to understand the situation she as in.

"According to what they said, they hunt down demons and kill them with a weapon."

Kurenai continued with her report.

"Do you know for what purpose?"

Tsunade asked.

"The only thing I heard is that the weapon apparently absorbs part of the slain demon. It doesn't seem like it was their first time doing that."

"From what you've told me, it appears that they're actually quite experienced in this whole process."

"Riko's not safe as long as they're out there…"

Lady Tsunade sighed.

"I know how you feel, Kurenai, but we can't go blindly after them. We don't fully know what they're capable of. However, there's no denying that they're strong enough to take down a full team of Jounin and Chunin. We cannot take them lightly."

Kurenai clenched her fists in silent frustration. She wasn't angry at the Hokage, but at herself for not being strong enough to protect Riko.

"As for you, Riko-chan…"

Lady Tsunade looked at Riko with a smile.

"I've been told about your accomplishments at the hospital. The things you've done are very impressive, indeed. If you don't mind, I'd like to work with you sometimes."

Riko gave a shy smile and nodded slowly.

After their meeting with the Hokage was done, Kurenai and Riko went back home. Riko just sat on the couch, looking blankly at nothing in particular.

"Is something bothering you, Riko?"

Kurenai's voice seemed to snap her out of her dazed mood. Riko shook her head slowly.

"Are you sure?"

Riko nodded. Kurenai then went and sat next to her.

"Do you miss Gaara?"

After a moment of silence, Riko nodded. After the incident, she didn't get the chance to spend any time with him, since she spent only enough time there for Kurenai and her team to recover. Needless to say, it only lasted a day, and Riko had spent it with her adoptive mother. She wished she could've had more time with Gaara. She missed him so much.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll see him again soon."

That night, Riko couldn't sleep. She had so many things going through her mind. Kijin, Gaara, their threat to hurt those close to her… All of these things scared her. She knew that she would never forgive herself if they hurt Gaara because of her. She already felt horrible about what had happened to Kurenai. She didn't want that to ever happen again. Riko then took her notebook in which she had been writing down her feelings and the events that happened to and around her. She wrote down her thoughts and worries, not leaving out a single detail of what had happened. This helped her relax a bit, and she was able to get a few hours of sleep.

The next day, her duties at the hospital resumed as usual. Nobody was told about what Kijin, except for the ones who were involved in that situation. Riko didn't want anyone to know about it either, since it might put their lives in danger too. She tried to act normal at the hospital, but Tsubomi sensed that something was wrong.

"Riko-san, is something wrong?"

Riko tried to smile and shook her head.

"Come on, you can't fool me. We're both girls so I can tell that something is bugging you right now. Is it a boy?"

Tsubomi gave Riko a teasing smile. Riko's face immediately changed into a bright red colour at the question.

"It is a boy! Who is it? Do I know him?"

"Ah…!"

Riko tried to deny it, but Tsubomi was dead set on knowing who it was and why Riko looked so upset. Riko motioned to her that she'll talk during their break.

"Alright, it's a promise then."

Riko sighed, but smiled genuinely. It was nice to interact with another girl who didn't have too big of an age difference.

During their break, Riko told Tsubomi everything about Gaara. She told her how he was someone who just needed to be loved and how he deeply cared for her. She omitted the part about Kijin, only telling Tsubomi that the reason why she was feeling so downcast was because she simply missed him. Of course, Tsubomi bought it as the only reason why Riko was a bit under the weather.

"But man, I can't believe you already found someone you care about so much. It makes me feel like I've been missing out."

Riko started writing down on a paper.

 _You don't have anyone you like?_

"Not really… I'm just so busy with my work here at the hospital. that the only guy my age that I've been around lately is Hachiro."

Riko giggled.

 _You don't want to get to know him more?_

"Huh? No way! He's too… unrefined for my taste. I mean, he's a nice guy, but… I don't know! Don't ask me such weird questions out of nowhere!"

The girls laughed together for a bit until the man in question came to greet them.

"You girls seem to be having fun. What did I miss?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all!"

Tsubomi quickly answered. This kind of surprised Hachiro who was a bit confused at the whole situation. It didn't help that Riko was practically dying of laughter. The three of them spent the rest of their break together.

At the end of the day, Riko said goodbye to her colleagues and headed back home.

* * *

 **Tell me in the reviews what you guys thought about this chapter! :D**


	28. Runaway

**Here's another not so exciting chapter... Next one will pick up, hopefully!**

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Chapter 28: Runaway

Days, weeks, months went by. Riko was assigned on quite a few missions. She didn't really have time to do anything else. There was no time at all for her to even think about going to see Gaara again. She knew that he also was probably in the same position. If it wasn't the missions keeping her busy, it was her work at the hospital.

One day, she had been working until quite late in the night. On her way home, she decided to take a shortcut. While she was walking in one of the backstreets, she heard a familiar voice. She got closer to the main road and peeked to see who it was. It was as she had thought. Sakura was there. That was the voice she had recognized. She was now unconscious in Sasuke's arms, however. Before Riko could process what happened, Sasuke put Sakura down on a nearby bench and left her there.

Riko immediately came out and ran up to Sakura's unconscious body. She couldn't just leave her there. She looked around, trying to find Sasuke, but he was completely gone. Riko then used her abilities to make Sakura float, making her lighter to carry. She then brought her back to her place, bringing her through the window, making sure not to disturb anyone. After making sure Sakura was alright, Riko headed home.

She woke up early the next day, planning on heading to the hospital. As soon as she got out of the door, she was intercepted by Naruto.

"Riko-chan!"

He seemed very frantic.

"Sasuke's gone!"

Riko's eyes widened. She realized what had happened the day before. She did notice that Sasuke was acting strange lately. However, she barely saw him, so she thought it was just her imagination. But her suspicions were right. Sakura was actually trying to stop Sasuke the night before.

"I've been assigned to the retrieval mission and I need members. Can you come with me? I'll need as much help as I can."

Without thinking more about the situation, Riko nodded. She knew that this was more important than anything else.

"Great! I knew I could count on you. Meet up at the village gates when you're done getting ready."

She went back inside to gather a few emergency supplies while Naruto went on his way to gather more members. Riko left a note for Kurenai who was still sleeping, since she came back pretty late the night before from her mission.

When Riko arrived at the gates, she was the first there. Not long after, Neji and Lee joined her. Lee waved at her.

"Riko-san! You will be joining us for Sasuke's retrieval as well?"

Riko nodded and smiled. Lee was as energetic as ever. It was as if he was never injured to begin with.

"It will be very useful to have a skilled medic come with us."

Neji said. Right after, Kiba came running to the gates to join the group. Choji and Shikamaru were the last to arrive along with Naruto.

"Alright! Let's go!"

Naruto shouted.

"Wait up. I'm the leader here, since I'm the only Chunin."

Shikamaru half said half yawned. Naruto pouted and puffed his cheeks.

"We need to travel in a certain formation that'll make our pursuit effective. We will proceed in a single line formation. First things first: Kiba will be in the most crucial position of forward scout."

He then fixes Kiba in the eyes.

"You're always traveling all year throughout the nation of fire, and you know our terrain very well. Also, you've got a keen sense of smell. It'll make it easier to track Sasuke if you're first in line. This also means that it's easier to detect booby traps from the enemies' scent. Second will be me, the squad leader. I can give orders according to the situation behind Kiba, and anyone behind me can see my hand signals. Third is Naruto. You've got quick reactions, so it's best to keep you in a position where you can assist both front and back. You'll be the cover and assistance, especially since you've got your shadow clones. Fourth will be Riko. Since she's essentially the medic of our squad, we need to have her in the most secure position. The enemy would have to deal with everyone else before they can even get to her. Fifth will be Lee. Lee has just as much, if not quicker reactions than Naruto. Having him there will give him access to both the action in the back and the front. Fourth will be Choji. You don't have the speed but you've got the most hit power in our squad. Me, Kiba, Naruto, and Lee will create openings, and you will charge in to finish the game. Basically, you're the striker. Lastly, I'll place Neji on the squad's tail. I'll let you handle the most difficult task of rear scout. With your Byakugan, you can always check for the squad's blindspots."

Riko was impressed with Shikamaru's analytical abilities. He just figured out who was going to be on the squad and he's already thought so far ahead about how everyone could be useful to the mission. Shikamaru then further explained with a drawing, showing the others how this formation covered the widest area of sight, leaving little to no blindspots. He then asked everyone to show their weapons and what they were carrying along with them. He checked everyone in a little less than three minutes.

"Any questions?"

He asked them. Everyone, including Riko, shook their head.

"Well, if you've got nothing to say, I guess I'll finish up with the most important thing."

Riko cocked her head to the side, wondering what else Shikamaru had to say.

"Sasuke's not a very close friend of mine, nor is he someone important. However, he is a fellow shinobi from Konohagakure, just like you and me. He's our comrade! This is why we'll risk our lives for him. This is the way of the Leaf. Even someone like me can't goof off on something like this. I'm responsible for all of your lives."

Riko smiled, sensing the maturity coming from Shikamaru.

"Hah, now you're starting to look like you deserve that Chunin title."

Kiba said and smirked.

"Alright! Let's go!"

Naruto shouted once more. Just as everyone turned their back to Konoha to start on their way, someone stopped them.

"Wait!"

They turned around to see Sakura. Naruto looked the most surprised of all of them.

"Sakura-chan!"

He exclaimed. Shikamaru then looked at her.

"I heard the story from the Hokage. Sorry, but I can't take you to the mission. Even you couldn't convince Sasuke, right?"

Naruto's eyes widened. Shikamaru continued.

"Seems like we gotta force him to understand. Sakura, your job is done."

Sakura looked down, her eyes tearing up.

"What…? Sakura-chan, you already met up with Sasuke?!"

Riko realized that Naruto didn't know about what had happened the night before. She thought it was Sakura who had told him about Sasuke leaving, but it seemed like he found out from the Hokage. Tears started flowing down Sakura's cheeks.

"Naruto, I beg you. Please… Please bring Sasuke back… I couldn't do it… I couldn't stop him! The only person who can probably save Sasuke-kun now is you, Naruto… Only you…"

Naruto looked to the side then smiled at Sakura.

"Sakura-chan, you really like Sasuke, huh? I know how much pain you're in because of Sasuke. I can understand."

Riko clenched her fists and bit her lower lip. She felt bad for both Sakura and Naruto. She knew that, even though Naruto wasn't showing it, he was in even more pain than Sakura. Sakura sobbed harder.

"Naruto… Thank you."

Naruto then smiled widely and gave her a thumbs up.

"Don't worry! I'll bring him back! Promise of a lifetime!"

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 **I feel like I'm going through the main story so fast XD Tell me what you thought of this chapter in the reviews!**


	29. Not Even I Know

**I know this took me forever, I'm really sorry... I started school and there's just no time to do anything. I still hope you guys enjoy this!**

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Chapter 29: Not Even I Know

Travelling in silence, the group was on its highest guard. Kiba's sniffing, along with Akamaru's whining then broke the silence.

"What is it?"

Shikamaru asked him immediately, knowing that something was up.

"Blood… I smell blood real close from here."

Kiba growled.

"If you smell blood then it means there's some form of combat. If we go there, I bet we can gather some information, but we must approach carefully."

Shikamaru suggested.

"If we do that, Sasuke would cross the border before we get to him."

Neji commented.

"What are we going to do?"

Naruto asked Shikamaru. After thinking for a bit, Shikamaru gave out his orders.

"Alright, we'll go after Sasuke."

"Roger that! That's how it should be!"

Naruto replied. Riko still couldn't help but feel a bit worried about what Kiba had smelled. If there was blood and combat, then there were probably injured people too. She would've wanted to help out, but she understood that the priority at that moment was Sasuke. Shikamaru then warned everyone to watch out for possible traps laid out by the enemy.

Kiba started loudly sniffing again, putting everyone on alert.

"Hey! The stench of the enemy is all over this place!"

Kiba exclaimed.

"Everyone stop!"

Shikamaru quickly ordered. Everyone immediately stopped moving forward and Riko landed down next to Naruto. Neji then scanned the place with his byakugan and the group proceeded carefully while avoiding all the traps laid out by the enemy. For Riko it was a bit easier since she was floating above the floor traps and didn't need to come in contact with any surface to follow everyone.

"Caught them."

Neji said with his byakugan activated.

"Alright! Let's go bring Sasuke back!"

"Back off, Naruto. It's my time to show off this time."

Kiba chuckled with confidence.

"Mine too."

Choji retorted.

"Don't be hasty. As soon as I lay out my plan, we'll engage our target."

Riko took a deep breath to calm down her racing heart. Shikamaru then starts formulating a plan and giving out orders to everyone. After telling each person their role, he turned to Riko.

"Riko, you stay behind on standby. You have to stay hidden. We can't have them figure out that you're our medic, or they'll definitely go straight for you."

Riko slowly nodded, knowing that this was the best course of action. Everyone then assumed their role. Riko floated upwards in a place up in the trees where she was well hidden and could monitor everything from a safe distance.

Naruto makes some shadow clones and transforms them into Shikamaru and Neji. He then makes them approach the enemy on purpose to get noticed. This causes the sound ninja to attack them, only to fall into the real Shikamaru's shadow possession jutsu.

Just when they were about to celebrate, Shikamaru was then hit by a rock. Riko was the only one who noticed that something, or more like someone, moved from behind one of the sound ninja. That person seemed to be part of him.

The rock thrown at Shikamaru caused him to lose focus and his shadow possession came loose. Right when it did, the bulkier of the four sound ninja pressed his hands on the ground, bringing up a huge dome made out of the earth and rocks that enveloped all of Riko's teammates. The other sound ninja left, carrying a container that Neji mentioned to be containing Sasuke.

Riko knew that she couldn't just stay hidden while her friends were in danger. Now that there was only one of the sound ninja left, she felt as though she had a chance against him. She definitely knew that she had to face him and save her friends.

She went down from where she was, as silently as she could, concealing herself completely. She was right behind the bulky sound ninja who didn't seem to notice her at all. She knew that it was due to her powers kicking it. She took a deep breath and concentrated. She then grabbed the sound ninja's head.

"Ah!"

But he noticed her too late. His consciousness immediately faded and he fell limply to the ground along with his earth dome. When everyone emerged from inside, they looked confused and surprised. They then all noticed Riko and the motionless sound ninja.

"Riko-chan! Were you the one who saved us?"

Naruto exclaimed. Riko smiled and nodded.

"What? But how? How did you take him down so fast and all by yourself?"

Kiba asked, unable to comprehend the situation. Riko shrugged. Shikamaru then walked up to the sound ninja's body and placed checked his pulse.

"He's still alive. It looks like he's just in a coma. We should tie him up well and place some sort of barrier around him."

The guys all focused on that while Shikamaru went up to Riko.

"Care to tell me how you did that? I had no idea about what you were really capable of. This might open up a bunch of strategies that make use of your abilities."

Riko looked perplexed. She took out her notebook and wrote down what she wanted to say to Shikamaru.

 _Not even I know what I'm capable of. Things just happen when i really need them to happen._

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head.

"Hm… That's definitely odd. But thanks for what you did. We owe you one."

Riko shook her head and smiled. She felt so happy to be useful to them.

When they were done tying the sound ninja up, they continued their pursuit of the other sound ninja.

Shikamaru transformed himself into the bulky sound ninja to catch the enemy off guard while the others followed and stayed hidden behind.

When the transformed Shikamaru caught up, the other sound ninja didn't seem to notice it wasn't their teammate.

"What took you so long?"

The sound ninja who Riko had seen another human being come out of said to the transformed Shikamaru. The latter proceeded to reply.

"Sorry, it took some time to take those bastards' chakra away."

Shikamaru replied, trying to sound as natural as possible.

"You fatty! Don't be so slow! Hurry up and carry that coffin, since it's your job, you inferior dickhead!"

The only kunoichi of the group aggressively said.

"Yeah…"

Shikamaru replied, not knowing how the shinobi he was transformed as would react to such insults. There was then a moment of silence as the other sound shinobi looked at the transformed Shikamaru with suspicious eyes.

"Hey, Jirobo… You're so obedient today."

The shinobi with six arms said.

"What…?"

Shikamaru started to understand that he'd been found out.

"I said that I can't let you carry the coffin since you're not Jirobo!"

Shikamaru frowned.

"Damn."

He then charged at the shinobi with multiple arms.

"Kidomaru!"

The kunoichi called out to him.

"Let me handle it! Tayuya, Sakon, you guys go on ahead!"

Kidomaru then threw the coffin containing Sasuke to Tayuya. Sakon and her then went on ahead as Kidomaru trapped Shikamaru and all the others who had emerged to attack him in a spider web that he produced from his mouth.

Riko stayed behind, just like Shikamaru instructed her again. However, with the web covering so much surface, she didn't know how she would be able to get to him without getting caught in his web.

* * *

 **Tell me what you guys think in the review :)**


	30. The Fifth Sound Ninja

**Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everyone! I'm sorry for the long wait, but I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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Chapter 30: The Fifth Sound Ninja

Kidomaru had enveloped Neji completely in his webs. He then forged spiked weapons with the same substance he used as webs and hardened it.

He then threw it at Naruto, aiming to kill him. Without thinking, Riko came out and stood in the way, reflecting the weapon with an invisible wall. Neji had just gotten out of the cocoon of webs using his gentle fist, but didn't react fast enough to intercept the weapon before Riko.

"What…?! Where did that brat come from?"

Kidomaru then noticed that she was floating. He realized that she was no ordinary brat. Neji seized that opportunity to free everyone from the webs.

Riko was angry. She was angry at Kidomaru for trying to kill Naruto, one of her closest friends. Her anger was like a budding fire within her getting more and more violent. Before she noticed, her anger manifested itself in actual flames that engulfed Kidomaru so suddenly that nobody had a chance to react. He then started screaming in agony as the flames continued to rage on. These were no ordinary flames; they were the colour of crimson and only consumed Kidomaru. Nothing else of the his surroundings were affected. And a few seconds later, there was nothing left but his ashes, swept away by the breeze.

Riko had floated down on a tree branch, her legs giving out under her as she was shaking like a leaf from both fear and horror. The others were astonished by what they had just witnessed, petrified, not knowing how to respond. Naruto was the first to snap out of his stupor and jump next to Riko, putting a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head towards him, her face flooded with tears.

"Riko-chan… It's not your fault. You were just protecting us."

Shikamaru, Neji, Choji, and Kiba all came closer to them as well.

"Yeah, we're all grateful to you. If anything, your actions might've given us more of a chance to catch up to the others. Which means, a better chance to get Sasuke back."

Shikamaru added. Riko then wiped her tears with her sleeves and nodded slowly. With Naruto's help, she got up and they resumed the chase.

The two remaining sound ninja had not gotten far. When they sensed that their pursuers were getting closer, they turned around to face them.

"What were those idiots Jirobo and Kidomaru doing? These kids don't even look beaten up!"

The woman, Tayuya, mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah! I'll kill them all myself!"

Sakon charged at the group. They all jumped out of the way. However, Riko's reaction time was not fast enough and she was hit by a myriad of punches from Sakon.

"Riko-chan!"

Naruto screamed out her name. Riko was sent flying into a tree, losing consciousness at the impact. She fell down on a branch, her mouth dripping with blood. Sakon then decided to finish her up. Before he could reach her, however, Choji had expanded his arm with his partial expansion jutsu, just in time to grab her and take her out of the way. Naruto then carried her on his back, determined to protect her from any further harm.

"We're way outnumbered, Sakon! There isn't enough time!"

Tayuya, who was carrying the coffin Sasuke was enclosed in, shouted at the other sound ninja.

"One of em is down. We just need to keep at it!"

However, Shikamaru had already set his plan in motion. He caught Tayuya in his Shadow Possession technique, positioning her in Sakon's way who was charging at full speed towards Naruto.

"Tayuya! Get out of the way!"

"I… can't!"

Both of them crashed into each other, causing Tayuya to let go of the casket. Neji then caught it and landed next to Naruto who was still carrying Riko.

"Go! Take Sasuke and go!"

Shikamaru shouted at them.

"I won't let you get away!"

Sakon, who had immediately recovered, propelled himself at high speed towards Neji and Naruto who were running away. He was covered in a spotted pattern, which came from his curse mark. Kiba went after him, while Choji and Shikamaru were busy keeping Tayuya away.

Riko had regained consciousness. The first thing she saw was Kiba hitting Sakon with a Fang over Fang, causing both of them to fall down through a deep pit in the ground. Her heart sunk as she feared for her friend's life.

"Kiba!"

Naruto shouted.

"I'll go after him! Can you carry Sasuke too, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded at Neji. The latter then immediately jumped down as well. Just as Naruto was about to make a shadow clone to carry Sasuke as well, a shadow of a shinobi appeared on top of the coffin, taking it away as swiftly and quickly as he appeared. Tayuya looked just shocked at the sudden apparition as the Konohagakure shinobi.

"Kimimaro? What are you doing here?!"

The man named Kimimaro jumped on one of the higher branches, away from everyone's reach.

"You're too late, Tayuya."

His voice was cold and emotionless. It sent chills down everyone's spines.

"Also, where are the other three?"

Tayuya seemed on edge around the newcomer.

"Why… Why are you…? Your body is no longer…!"

"I'm not using my body anymore. This is the power of my will."

He then put a hand on the casket containing Sasuke.

"This is an important vessel for Orochimaru-sama's dream. But you were too late."

Naruto, giving away to his anger, jumped towards Kimimaro, with Riko hanging on to his back.

"Hey you! Quit babbling senseless things! Give back Sasuke!"

"Naruto! Wait!"

Shikamaru screamed at him. Tayuya was about to punch Naruto to keep him away from the container that held Sasuke, but Riko reacted fast enough, blocking Tayuya's punch with an invisible wall.

"Wha-?!"

Tayuya immediately jumped back. Kimimaro, witnessing what had happened, took the container and jumped away, deciding it was wiser to get the job done himself.

When the realization dawned on Naruto that Kimimaro was leaving with Sasuke, he quickly followed him with Riko still on his back. Riko then closed her eyes and focused her energy on Naruto, making him start floating through the air, just like how she was able to do that too.

"W-What? I'm flying! Did you do that, Riko-chan?"

She slowly nodded. He smiled.

"Now we'll be able to catch up for sure."

Naruto floated through the trees, guided by Riko's power. Kimimaro was within their sight after they had travelled a short distance. Riko then concentrated on her feelings of not wanting Kimimaro to get away with Sasuke. This caused him to be sucked in towards them, slowing him down and bringing him closer.

Kimimaro, confused by what was happening, looked behind him.

"What is happening? How are you doing this?"

Kimimaro's face remained expressionless, even though he was very surprised. Just as he was almost within reach, Riko's head started pounding from the previous hit that she had suffered, making her lose focus. This caused Kimimaro to be released, and Naruto to fall down from his levitation. Luckily, thanks to his fast reflexes, Naruto was able to land on a tree branch and continue his pursuit, now being much closer to Kimimaro.

"We've got him now!"

* * *

 **Tell me what you thought in the reviews :D**


	31. Long Awaited Reunion

**Finally wrote this! It was so hard coming up with ways to keep it interesting! I hope you guys enjoy this!**

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Chapter 31: Long Awaited Reunion

Naruto kept pursuing Kimimaro with Riko on his back. As soon as they had made it past the forest and into a clearing, Kimimaro stopped in his tracks and faced them, having put down Sasuke's coffin next to him. He then stood in an offensive stance in between Naruto and the coffin, blocking Naruto's way.

"You will not proceed any further. The rebirth is almost complete."

Kimimaro said in his emotionless tone. Naruto put Riko down, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Wait for me here, I'll take care of that bastard and get Sasuke back."

She nodded and got out of the way, hiding behind a tree, as to not be a burden during the fight. She then watched as the fight unfolded. Naruto started off with some of his Shadow Clones had them all attack Kimimaro. Riko then witnessed something odd, even grotesque that Kimimaro did. From his skin, bones came out and were used to slash through Naruto's clones at incredible speed.

No matter how many clones Naruto threw at him, he easily slashed through them. Riko then noticed a dark aura emanating from the coffin that Sasuke was sealed in. The lid then opened and Sasuke emerged from it.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto had also seen what had happened and had called out Sasuke's name. He, however, didn't respond and jumped away, running on ahead. When Naruto tried to chase him, Kimimaro tried to block his way. Riko had anticipated that, and was able to block his way with an invisible wall. As soon as he felt himself coming in contact with the invisible wall, Kimimaro jumped away thanks to his fast reflexes, avoiding a painful crash. This allowed Naruto to keep going on ahead.

Kimimaro frowned and turned his head towards the one responsible. He was certain that it was that weird girl that was hiding behind the tree. He knew that he had to get rid of her before he could proceed. Without wasting any time, he charged at her.

Riko, seeing Kimimaro approaching so fast, panicked. She had never fought before. She usually just stayed on the side lines and helped from a distance. She couldn't think straight, which was what she needed to be able to use any of her powers.

"Aaah!"

She screamed in fear and closed her eyes while crouching on the floor.

"Leaf hurricane!"

Hearing the familiar voice, she opened her teary eyes to find Rock Lee landing a powerful kick on Kimimaro. He then stood, his back to Riko and facing Kimimaro, between her and Kimimaro.

"Riko-san! Are you alright?"

Lee turned his head to Riko to see her nodding at him, with eyes still filled with tears.

"Shikamaru said that it would be wise to have someone help you and Naruto out, so I volunteered to come. You do not need to worry anymore. I will protect you with my life."

Riko whimpered and nodded, relieved to have Lee protecting her. She pulled herself together and focused on trying to help him from the sidelines.

Lee charged at his opponent, only to be easily dodged. Kimimaro didn't want to waste time on another nuisance. He needed to get rid of the girl who was blocking his way.

Riko couldn't follow his movements, since he was much faster than her. Her reaction time was much slower than that of a veteran ninja. She was however able to float up just in time to avoid a fatal blow from Kimimaro's spear-like bone that was pointed towards her. Even though she avoided a fatal injury, Kimimaro was able to pierce through her thigh, sending piercing waves of pain through her whole body.

"Hah…! Aaah…!"

She was wheezing and screaming in pain as tears flowed uncontrollably down her cheeks.

"Riko-san!"

Lee jumped in the air at lightning speed and swept Riko away from Kimimaro. He then carried her far enough from Kimimaro, into the open area to be able to fully see what the enemy would be up to. He felt Riko trembling violently in his arms.

"Riko-san, forgive me for not protecting you…"

Lee started to blame himself for not being able to protect the person who saved his dreams.

Riko then brought her trembling hands to her wound and started calming herself down. As soon as she was able to concentrate, her wound started healing. However, Kimimaro was striking once more. Lee was doing his best to dodge him with Riko in his arms, but it was becoming more of a challenge as time went on and Kimimaro was anticipating Lee's actions more.

As Lee tried fleeing once more, he found Kimimaro already where he was fleeing towards, ready to strike. It was too late to avoid him now. Riko had stopped trying to heal herself, and focused on protecting Lee instead. She was able to block Kimimaro's blow with an invisible wall. Her wound, however, was still wide open and she was losing a lot of blood, really fast. Her wall lasted long enough for Lee to get away.

"Riko-san! Focus on healing yourself, please! Your body is growing colder by the second!"

While Lee was preoccupied by Riko's state, Kimimaro took the chance to charge for a final blow.

Just as Lee realized what was happening, a wall of sand appeared and blocked Kimimaro.

Riko's face immediately changed from being distorted in pain to a relieved smile. Lee was able to get away and laid Riko down by a large rock, letting her lean her back on it.

Kimimaro looked towards the newcomer.

"Yet another pest blocks my way."

Riko looked up to see Gaara walking closer to them. He had no expression on his face, but Riko saw that he was very angry. She could see it in his eyes. She then focused on closing up her wound. Within seconds, she was finally able to close. Having lost quite a bit of blood, however, she felt icy cold and was shivering uncontrollably.

Lee and Gaara were busy fighting off Kimimaro. Riko wanted to help them, but her vision was starting to blur. It all felt distant. The voices were muffled. She then felt herself being lifted in the air and brought closer to Gaara.

"Ryuusa Bakuryuu!"

A giant series of waves made out of sand chased after Kimimaro, enveloping the entire area. Riko fought hard to keep herself from drifting into unconsciousness. As soon as Gaara's sand covered everything, he put his hands down on the ground.

"Sabaku Taisou!"

The sand then crushed everything that it enveloped, much like Gaara's sand coffin technique, but on an extremely bigger scale. Riko sighed in relief, thinking it was all over. However, Gaara felt something emerging from his sand. On a purely instinctual reflex, he brought Lee, Riko, and him up on his sand platforms, as quickly as he could, away from the ground.

Indeed, hadn't he done that, they would've all been impaled with the numerous gigantic sharp bones that emerged from the ground.

"To think he still had all that chakra! However, it seems like this is the end."

Lee said, relaxing his tense body. Just as Gaara was about to relax too, Riko saw Kimimaro appear from one of the bones in front of Gaara, targeting him with a drill-like bone. Even Gaara's sand couldn't react fast enough for this, but Riko's feelings were so intense that she completely disintegrated all the bones in the area to ash, even the one Kimimaro was wielding as a weapon. He then fell to the ground, coughed out blood and let out his final breath. Lee and Gaara were wide-eyed at what had just happened.

Gaara looked to Riko to find her completely unconscious on his sand platform. He brought her to him and held her in his arms as he brought himself and Lee down to the ground. He then went to sit under a tree, still holding Riko tightly in his arms, keeping her warm. Lee followed behind and sat next to him.

"I see your leg and arm are in good shape."

Gaara asked Lee. Lee then glanced at Riko.

"If it was not for her, I might not have been healed."

Gaara looked at Riko's sleeping face. It was peaceful.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you before."

"Do not mention it! You were a worthy opponent!"

Gaara let out a small smile that Lee didn't notice. He then started to brush Riko's hair with his fingers.

"So I assume you were sent on a mission to help us."

Lee asked Gaara.

"Your Hokage asked Sunagakure for help, since we are allies. It was also a good opportunity to make amends for what had happened during the Chunin Exams."

Gaara answered without taking his gaze off of Riko's face.

"It is unfortunate that we are both out of chakra. We cannot go and help Naruto out in bringing back Sasuke."

Lee sighed.

"…It's all up to him again."

Gaara put his hand on Riko's forehead to check for any signs of fever. He sighed in relief when he felt none. He held her as close as possible to himself to warm her small shivering body.

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 **I hope you guys enjoyed this! I'll try not to take so long to update, but it's so hard with work and school and everything... Tell me in the reviews what you thought of this chapter!**


	32. Beside You

**I actually didn't take forever to update! Is the world coming to an end? XD I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

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Chapter 32: Beside You

When Riko woke up, she found herself soaring through the trees. She then realized that she was actually being carried. She didn't even need to look at who was holding her to know. His familiar warm scent made her feel so safe.

Gaara felt Riko move in his arms.

"You're awake?"

"Mm."

Riko affirmed. Gaara sighed in relief. He had been worried about whether Riko's condition was dangerous or not. Seeing her getting better so quickly put his mind at ease.

Riko then put her arms around Gaara's neck so that she can lift herself up to look around. Gaara gave her leverage with his hand supporting her back. He tried not to show it, but the sudden closeness of her face next to his was making him nervous. He felt his heart beating faster and his face heating up.

Riko was too busy looking around her to notice. She saw Temari and Kankuro travelling alongside them. Ahead, there was Lee carrying an unconscious Naruto. Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, and Kiba were also there. None of them seemed to have any serious wounds. Sasuke was nowhere to be found. Riko deduced that Naruto was not able to bring him back.

"Are you alright, Riko?"

Gaara whispered to her. He saw the expression on her face grow grim as she looked around. She turned her head towards Gaara and slowly nodded, just realizing then how close her face was to his. She quickly looked down, her face turning a deep shade of red. Gaara looked up at the same time, his face having the same colouration as Riko's

"We're here."

Shikamaru informed everyone. They all then landed down on the ground in front of the Konohagakure gate. Gaara put Riko down, keeping his arms there in case she couldn't stand on her own. After he made sure she was alright, followed her to the entrance of Konohagakure. Riko ran up to Lee who was still carrying an unconscious Naruto. She was worried about his condition and wanted to check if he was alright as soon as she could. She motioned to Lee to hurry to the hospital with her.

When they got there, she immediately made her way to one of the vacant rooms where she told Lee to lay down Naruto on one of the hospital beds. Shikamaru, Gaara, and Temari had followed them there.

Shikamaru felt responsible for Naruto's condition, since he was supposed to be the leader of the team for that mission. Temari followed him because, even though she would never admit it to herself, she was worried that Shikamaru would blame himself too much for the outcome of the mission. Gaara was there for Riko mostly, but also because he was concerned about Naruto.

Some of the hospital staff came into the room to help Riko. They started bandaging his wounds. Riko then put her hand on his forehead. She closed her eyes and started looking for the reason why he was unconscious. As she thought, he had used up quite a bit of chakra, which resulted in his coma. Usually his wounds would heal by themselves because of the Nine Tail's chakra, but his body was too strained from the excess usage of chakra that he didn't self-regenerate.

Riko held his hand, concentrating on healing his wounds. The bandages helped her know exactly where to concentrate her energy. Having worked at the hospital for so long, she was able to figure out how her powers worked a little better.

After about an hour, when she was sure that she had healed every single injury he had, Riko let go of Naruto's hand and headed towards Gaara who was waiting for her in the corner of the room. She smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. He understood that she meant to say that Naruto's condition was stable and they headed out of the room. Shikamaru and Lee, as soon as they saw Riko come out, ran up to her.

"How is he?"

Shikamaru asked.

"He's going to be alright."

Gaara answered them for Riko. Riko gave him a shy smile, feeling happy that he's helping her communicate with the others.

Shikamaru, Lee, and Temari sighed in relief.

"The Hokage offered to give us a place to stay for the night. Kankuro's already there. You coming along?"

Temari asked Gaara. He looked at Riko who extended her hand and held onto his sleeve.

"I'll catch up to you later."

He answered Temari without taking his eyes off Riko. Temari snickered at seeing the two of them acting this way. She never thought she'd see so many different sides of Gaara because of this one girl.

Gaara and Riko got out of the hospital together. They walked side by side, not saying anything, just enjoying each other's company. Riko then held Gaara's sleeve, not having enough courage to hold his hand. Gaara then moved his arm away and went for her hand himself, holding it tightly in his. Riko felt her heart skip a beat.

Unknowingly, she was transferring her positive energy to Gaara as well, making him feel a comforting warmth within him. Riko was the only one who made him feel that way, not only because of her powers, but because who she was. She was so kind and gentle towards everyone, without exception. Her caring nature was what had saved him from himself. There was also something else. He was attracted to her. Her personality, but also her appearance made him discover new emotions that he'd never felt towards someone else. Her beautiful flowing black hair and her striking blood red eyes made him just want to look at her and admire her. Just seeing her made him happy.

Riko was also feeling similar things towards Gaara. She just wanted to be close to him all the time. Whenever she wasn't with him, she would constantly think about him and feel lonely without him. She had talked to Kurenai about it a few times, but all Kurenai would do was giggle a little and tell her that she'd understand those feelings once she got older. She had an idea of what it was, but she didn't feel like thinking about complicated things. She just wanted to fully enjoy being with Gaara for what little time they had.

That night, they spent it sitting on the roof of one of the buildings in the sitting, watching the stars together. Riko spent that time teaching him her sign language so that they can easily communicate without her having to use a notepad. Gaara was genuinely interested in it, since he really wanted to be able to understand Riko better.

"So… I'm hungry is like this?"

"Ah! Ah!"

Riko shook her head fervently then took Gaara's hands to form the sign for that sentence.

"Oh, yeah… It's like that."

Gaara knew the right answer, but he just found Riko so cute when she tried correcting him with an exasperated look on her face. He couldn't help but smile mischievously as she helped him.

Riko then looked into his eyes and figured out that he was joking, again. And she fell for it, again. She puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms. Gaara chuckled and poked the air out of her cheeks. The sound it made made both Gaara and Riko giggle.

When the sun started to rise, they both gazed at it, admiring the pastel colours of the sky. Riko then rested her head on Gaara's shoulder while still looking at the sunrise. He then rested his head on hers and they stayed there until it was time for Gaara to leave.

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 **So? What did you guys think? So much fluff! Tell me your thoughts in the reviews :)**


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